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    NEXT: A Universal Translator?

    A Facebook friend recently made this post:

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    “Υπαρχουν κι αυτα στον αθλητισμο! Για οσους τα ξεχασαν λογω Φαταουλ, Κοκκαλη, Κοκκαλιαρη, Σαλονικη, Ιωαννιδη κλπ”

    Clicking on the “translate” link, this is what Facebook produced for me:

    “There are those in the athletics! For those who do because they forgot, kokkalē phataoul,’re skinny, salonikē iōannidē, etc”

    I was still unable to understand what he was trying to say. Google Translate was a little better, I suppose:

    “There are also these in sport! For those who forgot the question Fataoul, bones, bony, Saloniki, Ioannidis etc.”

    I think I get the gist of what the headline was supposed to mean, but only barely.

    For relatively simple phrases and sentences, these translation algorithms do an ok job. On the day of my Greek friend’s birthday, I typed “Happy Birthday!” into Google Translate and got back “Χαρούμενα γενέθλια!” which I then cut and pasted to his timeline. “David,” he said after liking my post, “your Greek is excellent!” (I should mention he is also a fluent English speaker.)

    Translation algorithms are still clunky, and still have difficulty with the nuances of language, such as idiomatic expressions. We still need human translators like those working for the United Nations, who provide simultaneous translations such that the world’s diplomats can communicate with each other. Unfortunately, most of us cannot be accompanied by a simultaneous translator.

    However, Waverly Labs has recently unveiled something like the Universal Translator on Star Trek. Users place an ear plug in one ear, and an app on a phone simultaneously translates from one language to another. So, I might be speaking to you in French, but what you would hear in your ear is a translation into English. Check out this video for a glossy demonstration of the technology. The app works with English, French, Italian and Spanish (languages that are very close to each other, so I would think that translation would be easier). I eagerly await the day when Waverly’s technology gives me the ability to translate between English and Mandarin.

    If this technology proves to be a true Universal Translator, then we may reach a stage where the world’s cacophony of languages are reduced to one: the language you speak. In one scenario, people would soon discover that they really do not need to learn another language. If my English can be so easily translated, why take the time and effort to learn a different language? If Spanish is my native language, why would I need to learn English? English is the default language of the European Union, but with Waverly’s technology bureaucrats could continue to use their own native languages — German, French, Estonian — while still being about to understand one another. School language teachers and companies like Rosetta Stone must surely see a bleak future for their services. It is also possible that only those who regularly travel in multicultural settings will feel the need for such a device. Simultaneous translation directly in the ear would be of value to those who are in regular contact with foreign language speakers, such as those engaged in international business, those working for NGOs, or humanitarian aid agencies.

    Even in such a scenario, there will still be a need for multi-lingual speakers. Fluency in another language is more than a matter of being able to transpose words in one language into another. To understand another language is to also understand the culture that speaks it. The syntax of a language is one thing, the semantics is a whole other matter. Translation algorithms may never be devised to so richly fathom the cultural meanings of another language.

    But I could also see this application as a spur for people to learn new languages. I can envision a scenario where my wife might be speaking to me in English, but I choose to hear a Greek translation in my ear so that I might learn that language. What better way to learn a new language than to use it in context, in real situations. While my wife is telling me what to buy at the grocery store, I could be learning a new language. It is possible that such a technology would produce more polyglots.

    There is room for skepticism, of course, about the ultimate goal of instant translation between all the world’s languages. While translation algorithms employing machine learning are improving by the day, I still cannot really understand what my Greek friend was trying to say on Facebook.

    David Staley is president of Columbus Futurists and a professor of history and design at The Ohio State University.  

    The next Columbus Futurists monthly forum will be Thursday June 23 at 6:30 PM at the Panera Bread community room (875 Bethel Rd.)  The topic will be “The Future of Democracy.”

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    David Staley
    David Staley
    David Staley is president of Columbus Futurists and a professor of history, design and educational studies at The Ohio State University. He is the host of CreativeMornings Columbus.
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