Machine translation is a quiet revolution. I am able to read people tweeting at me in Chinese (and they can translate on their end). I’ve had translated interactions before (Spanish) but Chinese seems like extra powerful thing since I can’t even guess unlike European languages.
Conversation
Replying to
Careful. They're wondrously powerful for highly literal stuff. Languages are very idiomatic, usage is highly social, requiring lots of collective tacit knowledge (cf. Harry Collins, Tacit and Explicit Knowledge) that machines don't have. Take it from a duffer learning Chinese. :)
1
1
Show replies
Replying to
I had an experience in a restaurant last year where we were both speaking into google translate so I could order food. The most future-feeling thing that’s happened to me in a long time
5
Replying to
Have you seen this article on machine translation effects on boosting international trade? ide.mit.edu/sites/default/
5
10
Replying to
We launched a global mobile app with a chat thread simultaneously translating in 7 languages. No user complaints.









