Well, luckily, nowadays, with the advancements in new translation technology, in the case of the scenario above, you wouldn’t have this problem at all.

With the rise in the advancements in translation technology, with everything from machine translation to the rising market of wearable and portable translation devices—it raises the question, “What will be the condition of translation in the near future?” Now, I want to draw attention to this question for a couple of reasons, and I’d like to do so in the form of the following scenario.

In this scenario, let’s say you and your spouse went on a vacation to a country in which you spoke little to none of their language. You yourself have done a little homework on the basics and your spouse may have even had a little history with the language from school or from a few online lessons. But once you get to the location of your vacation spot in this particular country, you and your spouse come to realize that the notes you brought with you about the language and the past history that your spouse has with the language are both serving you little to no good in effectively communicating with the locals. What do you do?

Well, luckily, nowadays, with new translation technology, in the case of the scenario above, you wouldn’t have to worry about this problem at all. You would easily be able to communicate with the locals no matter what the situation was. Thanks to portable and wearable translation devices, you wouldn’t need to know their language at all, and they wouldn’t need to know yours. You could easily just put on a wearable device or speak into whatever portable translation device you have, and you’d be able to communicate in a normal conversation without anything holding you back.

Now, given this example and acknowledging that technology is advancing at a rapid pace, I ask you this question, “Will human translation services be a thing in the future or will people discard the use of them entirely and just purchase a portable or wearable translation device?” For people who decide to purchase the technology, their argument or reason for doing so may be that it would be saving them the time and frustration of trying to learn a language, while at the same time completely eliminating the fear of a language barrier.

AI technology as a whole is advancing in a tremendous way and is the “hot topic” within the Translation Industry. And it’s just as popular among individuals who would rather not bother with waiting for someone to provide translation services to them, either concerning a professional or personal matter.

With regards to new technology such as AI, we have to be aware that there is a thin line between when to use it and when not to. At the very moment, even though AI is advancing in overall use and popularity, we have to keep in mind that this technology has not entirely been perfected just yet. At the stage that it’s currently at, it cannot be 100% relied on.

For example, referring to the use of AI and new technologies within the medical industry. The fact is, though these are great tools, there should be some caution towards the use of them in hospitals. When it comes to a life or death situation, for example, you can’t entirely depend on the accuracy of Machine translation and AI technology. In critical times like that, the situation is too delicate and you’d be running the risk of a mistranslation. And looking at it from that view, it’s not worth it.

But with all flaws aside, we at least have to acknowledge and respect where this technology is going and what its role will be in the future. We have to remain open-minded towards new technology and assure that we’re always keeping up with the modern times. It’s very important for us to be aware of the direction this industry is headed – to be able to recognize what is a permanent feature and what is only here temporarily. If you want to continue to excel in this industry or any industry, you have to find the right balance between technology and tradition.

But overall, considering everything that was said here in this article, we have to truly think about the direction that translation technology is headed. And not just in regards to how it affects us now, but also the role it will play in the future.

With that said, we leave you with these questions:

–In the Future, what will the condition be concerning the field of translation?

–Will there be a need for learning a foreign language?

–What would the world be like if people only spoke their native tongue—as there would be no need for learning an additional language due to the advancements in AI, Portable, and Wearable Translation technology?

–Is there a limit to how advanced this technology could get?

Written by: Joshua Hector

1-StopAsia Marketing Team