Why Should I Learn Spanish Now That AI Exists?

The Quandry

I’m learning Spanish as an adult. Have you tried learning a new language? My previous few attempts were through school or university; but once classes ended, so did my literacy.

This time, I’m trying something different: spaced repetition via the lovely apps Anki and Natulang. These systems sorta gameify learning through flashcards and daily practice, making it feel pleasurable. Snap-recalling the Spanish word for “pre-dawn” (la madrugada) is a very satisfying feeling.

However, between these moments of blissful brain-etching, my pain-body interrupts with, “Whaddaya doin? Learnin language is a waste uh time once AI translators git good.” This thought is learning friction. It’s a new version of the classic “Why do I need to know math when calculators exist?”.

This gets at the main reason people learn languages: to communicate. Of course, there are other valid and noble causes: cultural preservation, the joy of learning itself, Italian opera singing. And like Latin speakers today, there will always be a small community of people dedicated to the craft. But the vast majority learn as a means to an end. They practice international business or they’re passport bros. If a real Babel fish existed, the casual language learner wouldn’t. The Duolingo Owl would be out of business, forced to sell talon pics.

The Audit

A society-altering translation device would have the following features:

• Minimal Latency and High Accuracy: self-explanatory
• Multimodal: An effective human translator uses all of their senses to provide context, so a true Babel fish requires amazing microphones and cameras.

Well, what is the current state of AI translation? Is there anything on the market that’s good enough to replace language learning? The commercials for the latest Airpods or Meta Raybans sure portray them that way. Fortunately for Duo, most reviews I’ve read found that the awkward silences and poor translations prevented the newest devices from being all that useful. Furthermore, none have weaved audio and vision into a worthwhile experience.

The Spiral

A Universal Translator to replace human language learning is not here, yet. But the basic components are, so it’s just a matter of time for the technology to improve. Once this technology comes to fruition, it will open the doors for companies to hire anyone they want purely on skill. The dating pool expands into an ocean of potential partners. Anyone who can’t access the device will be stuck with a pittance of languages while the rest ascend the Tower of Babel. AI will index entire dialects, so we never have to speak them again, like in the Season 1 finale of Pluribus when the hive mind absorbs the last remnants of Peruvian culture. The language is digitized, but without any practitioners, it ceases to exist.

Whew. See the rabbit hole anxiety takes you down? Planning around world-changing future tech is exhausting. For now, I’ll continue learning Spanish. The momentary doubts with infinite bottoms will also continue.