Learning a Language is as prevalent today as it ever has been despite what Google Translate may tell you.

Though google translate and other word for word translation sites promise accurate and precise translation, instantaneously at your fingertips, they have never quite had an edge over face to face interpreting. If you type in your French homework into google translate, the automated response doesn’t hold the accuracy or fluency that an actual, real life person could produce.

Yet advancing technology steps up every day, with more powerful algorithms and intelligence behind the software to match human ability being created as time goes on. Who knows if in ten years’ time, human translators and those employed in the interpretation and translation industries will be out of a job, becoming just another part of the employment sector outdone by technology. If the pace of advancement from ten years ago is maintained, this nightmare is, without a doubt, going to become a reality.

But despite what the experts are saying, the pace of technological advancement and the worries of those employed in linguistic based jobs, I argue the opposite. Each day the importance of language learning through the traditional method of practice and experience grows, but it faces a decline in people willing to do so. People rely increasingly on translation websites to do the work when they travel abroad, or even at home or in the classroom. But the fact still stands: if your language teacher can pick up on a google translated homework, a native speaker abroad will too.

There are some clear benefits of these websites. Desperation in an accident abroad, google translate can most likely carry you through native speakers at a hospital, or police on the roadside. But for businesses that have expanded abroad internationally, this isn’t enough.

Type into google translate,

“It’s important that I go to the concert” and it will produce a grammatically correct answer of

“Es importante que vaya al concerito”, (Spanish), which isn’t only correct but also doesn’t miss out on the more complex subjunctive tense used in ‘vaya’.

Infact, google has come so far it can even translate some more complex phrases which have a much more indirect translation.

Take this phrase:

‘No hay mal que por bien no venga’ (Spanish)

It’s literal, word for word translation is;

‘There’s nothing bad that doesn’t occur in the name of greater good’ – A wordy, complicated sentence which one struggles to make sense of. This is what would be expected of google translate to produce, but type it in, and it gets the actual meaning spot on:

‘Every cloud has a silver lining’.

Very impressive, and a clear demonstration of the journey translating sights have gone on and just how accurate they can be these days.

But, we stil aren’t quite there yet.

‘Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente’ (Spanish)

Google translate interprets this literally as:

‘Shrimp that falls asleep, it carries current’

However, which it should have been interpreted as, is rather different:

‘You snooze you lose’. Close, but so so far.

Love google translate or hate it, you can’t argue with its credentials. Since its launch in 2006, it has helped millions upon millions of people navigate their holidays and business trips when they need it the most. There is no doubt it is the best translation tool out there, and it remains free and accessible, allowing use without internet connection into more than 50 languages and even allows translations of texts from photos.

Whilst acknowledging this, I want to argue its severe detrimental effect on younger language learners in schools, and how it is profoundly diminishing those taking it as far as GCSE, A-level and University, on the premise that google translate is enough nowadays, or even the belief that it is better. It encourages laziness, and reduces the need to be engadged. Learning a language isn’t neither quick or easy, and it takes a small amount of work but over a long continuous period of time to master. Google translate, if used on every homework task, is going to stretch this time to something which seems like an endless, and ultimately pointless learning period before any benefits are seen.

The importance of language learning without sites like this needs to be preached in schools as the doors it opens in higher education and life beyond school, are infinite. I saw a quote that said, “the limits of your language are the limits of your world” and this couldn’t be more truthful. If you are learning a language or considering doing so, keep sites like google translate at arms length. There are helpful websites such as wordreference, which whilst it won’t translate anything longer than a known phrase, offers every possible tranlslation to ensure the precise meaning in the correct context can be found.

Don’t just take my word for it. Bilingual employees statistically are more likely to earn 5-20% more than the base rate, and studies have found a 40% increased likelihood of employment for those offering more than one language. What’s more, even if this doesn’t appeal to you, competence in speaking another language offers you a 365 day excuse to go to the native country, or more likely countries, of the language that you can speak. If you take anything from this discussion, its to keep on learning, for no matter how advanced translation sites get, the doors that being bilingual opens, will never close.