A.I. - The END of Language Learning?

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!

As always, it's time to give a big shout out  to all of the Langfocus Patreon supporters,  

especially the ones whose names  appear right here on the screen.  

They’re the TOP TIER Patreon supporters  so let's give them a round of applause!

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