Lots of people seem to think that I’m not real. Apparently I’m AI generated! Maybe it’s true!
There’s a lot of talk about how artificial intelligence is going to change the world in the coming years. A lot of jobs that people do today will probably disappear, and a lot of the skills that we think are important to learn will probably become irrelevant, because AI will be better at them than humans. How about the skill of being able to speak another language?
Will it become irrelevant? In some ways it probably will. You didn’t know I was fluent in Turkish, did you?
Actually, I’m not. That wasn’t me speaking Turkish. That was AI.
I was speaking English and the AI tool translated it into Turkish. Let’s see that again - and pay attention to how my mouth moves. You can see that the AI tool is producing a Turkish translation in my own voice, and it even controls the movements of my mouth to make it look like it’s really me that’s speaking.
The specific tool that I’m using is called HeyGen. The way it works is that you can upload a video of yourself and it translates it into a different language. You get the point.
I’m sure the results are not perfect, but they seem pretty good. If you’re a native speaker of Turkish, Chinese, or German, what do you think of the translation? Does it seem authentic, or at least pretty good?
Let us know in the comments down below. So, this AI tool doesn’t translate your speech in real time - you need to first record a video of yourself, then upload it and the tool will translate it. So it’s useful if you want to create an on-demand video in another language, but not useful for conversing in real time - yet.
In the future I’m 100% sure that will be possible. It’s already possible in text, with automatically translated captions in meeting software like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. You can speak in your native language, and other participants will see translated captions of what you say in their own native language, in real time (or in almost real time - there’s a very slight delay).
The day will come when you will be able to speak one language, and the other participants will hear your voice speaking a different language of their choice. This will happen. And you can imagine how that will make foreign language skills less important for getting a job.
But that’s online. When meeting people face to face, you’ll still need to be able to speak a common language - or have an interpreter - RIGHT? No, I don’t think so.
A few years from now, I think wearable devices like Meta smart glasses or Apple Vision Pro will be able to translate on screen in real time, so while speaking to someone face-to-face you’ll see translated subtitles in the glasses. And there will probably be headsets or earpieces that automatically translate the audio. In the more distant future, I think humans will have the option to have a device inside their brain that makes them able to understand foreign languages - so they won’t even need to wear geeky glasses and headsets.
I think this will be a function of Neuralink devices or similar. Let’s go over to Twitter and ask Elon Musk what he thinks. Sorry…X!
SO - will this kind of technology completely kill language learning? Will people stop learning languages (aside from their native language)? NO, I don’t think so!
Not entirely. I think that AI translation and AI enhanced language ability will be very useful for work, and very useful for functional use, so people won’t really need to learn languages to complete tasks. Translation and interpreting in particular, will probably no longer be career options.
But people will continue to learn languages (a) for enjoyment, (b) to socialize, and (c ) to gain deeper insight into other cultures. Take me for example. I’ve never learned a language mainly for work, or mainly to accomplish tasks.
I’ve learned languages because it’s fascinating to discover how a different language works; it gives me a deep ability to focus on one thing; and because I enjoy talking to people in languages I’m learning. Think of all those times when you spoke another language (or even made a poor attempt at it) and the other person’s eyes lit up with excitement, appreciation, and endearment. They’re thrilled to hear you speak their language.
It completely breaks the ice and creates a very memorable and special moment between you and those people. Do you think people will react the same way if you’re using AI translation? No, of course they won’t.
What impresses them and breaks the ice is the fact that you care enough about their culture and language to invest time and effort into learning it. And when you genuinely learn a language, you can learn idioms, slang, and parts of the local dialect that make your speech more expressive and personal. I think AI will normally use the formal, standard language and have trouble with dialectal speech, with different levels of formality, and with the way people of different ages and social groups speak.
Those subtleties are often what helps you connect with native speakers the most, but AI will probably not be good at that for a long time. So, I’m sure people will continue to learn languages because they love having those memorable experiences of connecting with people. And as we learned from the failure of Google Glass, if you walk around in public wearing geeky, privacy-invading smart glasses, people probably won’t walk to talk to you at all!
Some people learn languages and don’t even speak to people in them. They use them mainly for passive consumption, like watching the news or movies, reading books, or whatever. I mean, I like speaking to people (sometimes), but I’m mainly an introvert, and there are several languages I’ve learned in the past that I haven’t spoken to anyone in years, like Hebrew, Indonesian, and French.
But I often listen to the news in those languages, or read some articles, or listen to podcasts. that kind of thing. Do I need to?
No, I could watch other news in English, and I could listen to different podcasts. But I enjoy it. I love the feeling of focusing on something and forcing myself to be in the moment so I can understand as much as possible.
So even if AI translation makes it possible to consume that content in perfectly natural English, I’m still going to watch it in the original language most of the time. Honestly, sitting back with a coffee and watching the news in a foreign language is one of my favorite things to do when I have a little bit of downtime. I also like reading ancient forms of languages like Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic.
Even though I can read English translations, I love the experience of deciphering the text and figuring out what things mean. I feel like I’m entering a time machine and people from the past are speaking directly to me in their ancient tongue. It’s already completely non-essential, and I’ll continue doing it strictly because it’s incredibly interesting to me.
AI is irrelevant to that kind of language learning. In short, learning languages will become more about human connection than about functional use. Completing tasks and functions won’t require us to know them.
But meaningful and authentic social interaction will be enhanced by real knowledge and use of the language. And there will always be people who learn languages just because they love them, even if they don’t speak them socially or need them for work. Think about me and this channel - do I have any real reason to examine the structure of Hungarian or compare the phonology of Russian and European Portuguese?
No! I’m just a language geek and languages are cool. AI can’t take that away from me!
How about you? Will you still dedicate time to learning and practicing other languages if AI translation makes it unnecessary? Leave your answers in the comments down below!
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