How Will Real-Time Translation Shape the Future of Language Learning?
With fast advancements in real-time translation and AI tools like video dubbing, I wonder if language learning will become less popular in the future.
Learning a new language takes a lot of time and effort. In 10-20 years, as technology reduces language barriers, will fewer people find it worth the investment? Could fluency in foreign languages become rarer as a result?
People who learn a language because they genuinely want to will likely continue to do so, but people who learn a language because they have to probably won't do it.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts. This is just a thought experiment—I believe language learning has many unique benefits that technology can't replace!
Old school analog face to face communication will always be welcome over the people who rely on the machines.
It'll be like Star Trek where the machine isn't even visible during a face to face conversation. People will just have their headphones popped in listening to the live translation. People already walk around with headphones in all the time
I can't imagine "real time" translation will truly happen, there will always be a delay of some sort.
(To clarify: when I think "real time translation", I'm thinking, like, an earpiece you wear that translates what somebody is saying as they're saying it, giving the impression that they are speaking your language)
Sentence structure varies so much between languages that this type of translation simply isn't feasible. For example: type a moderately complex sentance into DeepL (example) and watch how the translated sentence transforms wildly with nearly every new word.
For instance, the sentance "he has been taking care of his grandmother for twenty dollars an hour".
"he has" -> "tiene", as in has "he possesses"
"he has been" -> "ha sido". as in "he has been [a doctor]"
"he has been taking" -> "ha estado tomando" as in "he has been taking [medicine]"
etc etc.
Yeah, a real time would be hard with changes in syntax, not only things like noun/verb order would demand a delay, but bigger issues of syntax like SVO, SOV etc. It could get close to instantaneous, but never quite the speed of someone who just speaks the language.
Meaning gets lost in translation, anyone who speaks more than one language knows this. French poems translated to English don’t feel the same, English literature translated to French doesn’t feel the same.
People learn languages to feel other cultures, not simply understand them.
I don't think it will change much of anything. Unless we can forgo language entirely and just skip straight to transmitting direct meaning. THAT will be revolutionary in many many many ways. For good AND for bad....
It is just my opinion, but I don't think computer programs will ever be as good as humans. I spent an entire career as a software programs, so I know how programs work.
Programs are created by humans. Human language experts work out the grammar of a language, and they work with programmers who turn all the rules into numbers. No matter how smart the humans are, they are creating a set of rules in advance. The computer has zero intelligence. It can only run the rules (after they are turned into numbers) that the humans create. So nobody intelligent sees the actual sentence you are translating. A computer program is just following a large set of rules created by humans in the past.
For translation, you have the grammars of different languages. Only a human who is fluent in both languages can create the set of rules. And how many rules are needed? The good thing is that many different human experts can all contribute to the same set of rules. Once the rules are written down, they won't be forgotten. A good translation program is probably many man-years of work.
The real issue is this: can a set of rules translate every sentence correctly? Or are languages too complicated?
Don't worry. Won't be advanced enough in at least a couple decades. No need to stop studying.
And even then, literal translations will lose much of the nuance and cultural differences.
If I know how to swim, I don’t need a swimming ring. If I love swimming, it doesn’t matter whether there are swimming rings.
Good "AI" translation is straight-up impossible because 1:1 translation is impossible, things can be conveyed in one language that there's no easy way to express in another and while there's ways for creative translators to still convey those ideas, it's something that "AI" simply can't do. "AI" translations are going to create more language learners if they catch on at all, because "AI" translations are so shallow and low quality (if not outright incomprehensible) that they force you to learn the language if you want to get the original point at all.
are people forgetting that actual humans, communities, and societies speak the languages that you learn ????? why learn a language for translation purposes and ONLY use it for translation purposes??? whatever happened to actually TALKING TO PEOPLE ....... what the hell
The thing that OP is referring to would be instant translation that DOES allow you to talk to people seemlessly and as easily as if you were talking to them directly.
I love learning languages and really hope AI doesn’t replace human translation, but I’m sure it will.
All these folks mentioning the nuances of languages and the impossibility of machines grasping the intricacies of human communication don’t seem recognise the sheer power and the barely imaginable future abilities of computers, I believe.
Hope I’m dead long before it happens, but I reckon AI’s coming for all you translators’ jobs!!
Already because of how prevalent English has become, and because of online translation tools, there is less of a need for translators.
The universities in my country have abandoned some of the smaller language choices and reduced the number of students they accept.
I do find it worrying. Although you might be able to communicate with all these people, then especially politically, it is important to be able to understand what is going on in countries in their own language. If you get it all in a filtered way, you are going to lose out on details and attitudes that might be important.
I think real-time translation will always be a bit laborious and won't really replace learning language learning
I think that needing to be comfortable in the written version of the language is already much less important. Translation and generative AI can already do the writing for you, good enough for 90% of situations.
But, I do think speaking is something that will still be an important skill to learn.
Imagine you're at a business networking event and the guy next to you has learnt English and can speak it himself, while you're trying to rely on some real-time translator tech. The other guy will have the edge.
Imagine going on a date or having a romantic relationship with someone where you only communicate by translation tech. It just doesn't seem the same.
I don’t think it’s gonna replace language learning soon but god I wish it’d happen soon to replace my language learning. Absolutely hate it, but have to. Real time face to face translation would also be great in eliminating code switching so I don’t have to bother to speak my native language ever again, that’d be a massive improvement in quality of life as well.
But yeah, I agree that language learning purely as a tool might get rarer, just like people don’t ride horses around as a means of transportation that commonly anymore; but riding a horse for fun and even for transportation too didn’t get replaced by the invention and proliferation of cars.