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Gergely
Google translate makes language learning pointless.

Hello,

Few years ago google translate wasn't perfect it was funny how it translated things. But few years ago google started to make trasnlation neural network and artificial intelligence, so the translator program now literally learns as people, but it is 10000 times faster. Today i tried out, I've been learning japanese for 2 years now. I translated a little scientific article, then translate it with google translate too, from japanese to english. The google trasnlator literally won, it made a better translation than me, it's translation was 100% perfect and enjoyable. So here it is the machine learned the language perfectly and it also able to learn more, it scans the net and learn if new words created, it can't be beaten by a person.

My question after all this what is the point of learning languages? Soon everybody will use automatic translation on business conferences too, people won't have the need to learn a language, it can trasnlate after sound also immeadiately it's faster than a person and don't make mistakes like a person. Before you comment please try out the translator first, because it's not like it was 2 years ago.

Commentaires · 34

5
I use Google Translate a fair amount. Most of the time, I just use it as an electronic dictionary (to look up a word), but occasionally, I use it to translate an entire sentence or paragraph. It's a very useful tool, but it's far from perfect. The quality of the translation also depends on which language you use it for. For instance, it's much better for English <-> French, than for English <-> Russian. Furthermore, all translations go through English. So if you want to translate (say) from French to Russian, then Google Translate will first translate from French into English, and then it'll translate the English translation into Russian. Naturally, this compounds mistakes. 

Besides, even if Google Translate became far more accurate than it currently is, I'd still prefer speaking the language. It's far more convenient to communicate with people directly than to use a translator to mediate communication. If I badly need to communicate with someone, and the only way I can do it is with the help of Google Translate, then I'll use Google Translate. But that's only if I really, really need to communicate with that person. Otherwise, I'll just find someone else to talk to. 
4
Gergely, 

I was pretty sure that G.T. translates everything into English first, but maybe I'm wrong. Do you have a reference? 

Anyway, you think that G.T. will be producing perfect translations in no time, but I say: "I'll believe it when I see it." We were "supposed to" have flying cars and colonies on Mars by now, and all we got were smart phones. 
3

Hi guys, your topic and points of views are very interesting. I would like to add to Gergelys optimism; new tech in recent years (10 or so) has been improving drastically. Therefor the amount of knowledge, resources and data recollection is 10x faster than ever in human history, which means the process of learning (for humans and AI) is drastically accelerating in comparison of our human existance. Theres some new techs like Travel Voice, Google translator... that are awesome and for sure will facilitate human interaction. And, it is normal to question weather it makes sence to put this effort/time/money on learning a new language...

However, from my personal view, languages gives much more that simple communication skills, it gives humans a more open wide view of languange their learning. Its a sort of door to learning a new culture, which means he/she by doing that, will compare it with its own culture. Which means that in some cases, we might start questioning and reevaluate our way of thinking (our status quos, dogmas, believes, religion, political opinions, meaning of life...). Therefor, being more self-aware of ourselfs.

I may have gone a bit out of topic but, I wanted to state that for me, language is a gateway, if used wisely, for our inner peace, and it can help us improve the way we think. Peace for you guys :)

3

Hi, this is a very interesting topic to talk about. Google Translate has improved, you are right.

But you are way too optimistic indeed. GT has still lots of problems, sometimes even with quite simple sentences. Languages are very complex. 

I have been working as a professional translator for 25 years and I can tell you, I'm not afraid at all. 30 years ago, some people already told us: Why do you want to be a translator? This work will be done by machines in the future!:-)

So, language learning will still be necessary for a very long time, even if GT makes further progress. Would YOU like to live in world where communication with foreigners will only be possible thanks to hardware and software?

3
Let's assume we did have the possibility to translate perfectly. I see how it could be useful for occasional business meetings.  But since I have to use foreign languages in my daily life, I would still have to carry a device with me constantly which would translate in real time everything I say and everything I hear. What about the battery of such device? It would need to transmit data over a wireless connection much of the time which depletes battery quickly. Some places I go may not even have fast wireless connection available. What would it look like and how would I carry it? Would I have to walk around with a microphone and earbuds 24/7? Wouldn't it be annoying to some extent? So no, I don't think that language learning is becoming useless by next year.

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