

Ask HN: Is it still worth the effort to learn a (human) language? - jimmyjim

Is it still worth it to learn a (human) language, with the vast improvement of recent language translating technologies?
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patio11
1). Learning Japanese is one of my proudest achievements and pretty much
changed the course of my life.

2). Translation software is better but it's so bad compared to actual human
comprehension that it is difficult to take serious anyone who compares the
two. Including, ahem, parties unnamed at a particular Japanese megacorp who
thought that Babelfishing design docs and shipping the result to India would
result in quality software.

And for giggles I'm going to run this through Google translate:

日本語学習は私の晴れの成果の一つであり、かなり私の人生のコースを変更されています。
2）。翻訳ソフトウェアが優れているが、それは、2つを比較して、深刻な人を取ることは困難である実際の人間の理解に比べてそんなに悪くないです。以下を含む、エヘン、設計ドキュメントをBabelfishingと出荷結果をインドに高品質のソフトウェアをもたらすだろうと思った政党、特定の日本巨大企業では無名。と笑い、私はGoogleが翻訳を介してこれを実行するつもりです

Which actually says:

1) Studying Japanese is a proud success. Also, the [editor's note: no Japanese
person would phrase it this way] course of my life has been very altered.

2) Translation software excels.

Comment to be resumed after the earthquake is over.

~~~
petervandijck
And running it back gives us:

Learning Japanese is one of my fine work, the course has changed my life
considerably. 2.) The translation software is excellent, it is to compare the
two, serious people are taking that bad compared to an actual human is
difficult to understand. Including, ahem, a political document designed
Babelfishing thought I would bring high-quality software in India and delivery
results, in particular the Japanese giant is unnamed. Laugh, I'm going to do
this Google translation through the

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noonespecial
If you mean "learn" like most kids in American high schools learn another
language from a book in order to be "conversational", then I'd say no,
machines are (or will soon be) good enough to provide this level of
translation.

If you mean learn as in immerse yourself in another culture long enough to
begin generating the spoke language from "first principles" as it were (ie:
enculturation), then I highly recommend. It changes your perspective in a way
that can't be easily communicated to someone whose never experienced it. It
will allow you to create translations that machines will be completely
incapable of in the near future and probably even the far future.

In practice, it reduces to the difference between translating what was said
and what was meant.

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zkoch
I think so. I've done a lot of travelling abroad, and as an American who only
speaks English, I was always a little bit ashamed that I could only manage one
language. The shame was particularly great in poorer areas of Western Africa
and India where people that didn't have half the education I did could speak
four to five languages.

In fact, almost a year ago I left my job as a developer in San Francisco to
accept a position in China solely for the purpose of becoming fluent in
Chinese. I had taken classes in college, but those will of course never get
you past the point of asking where the restroom is. I'm about 11 months into
my venture, and my Chinese skills have improved by leaps and bounds (to such a
point that I actually just did a full phone interview in Chinese). I took a
huge pay cut to come here, but I think it's been worth it.

I can tell you that China is a very different country when you understand the
language, and I'm sure this applies to every country in the world. So yes, I
think it's definitely worth the effort to learn another language.

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bobbydesimone
Yes. Since you are probably a hacker, learning a new language is as much a new
way of thinking as it is a new way of communicating. Remember the first time
you learned a functional language and went "holy moly-- I've never thought
about programming that way." When you learn a new human language, the same
thing happens.

Also, in at least the languages I know, English and Italian, translating
technologies do a terrible job. Language is living and complex.

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mduerksen
Absolutely yes. A new language opens up a new world to you.

People who would otherwise consider you a ignorant tourist change their
attitude towards you as soon as you greet them in their language. The more
fluent you speak their tongue, the more they open up their real thoughts, and
the more you are able to really connect with them, because they feel honored
by the effort you made to converse with them.

This also has entrepreneurial implications: Your business partnerships in non-
english speaking countries will significantly benefit from you being able to
speak their language.

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mapster
Technology can not replace the joy of learning, or the joy of enjoying another
culture. I learned Italian. It has nothing to do with my work, but I really
enjoy an entirely different culture, and have many Italian friends.

Why not learn another language?

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melling
Sure, it's personally very rewarding to be able to talk to someone or read a
newspaper in another language.

Did I mention "there's an app for that!" :-)

I've written a pretty basic app for both iPhone and Android to help learn some
Spanish vocabulary. There are many others too. It's a lot of work learning a
second language but with mobile devices some of this can be done while waiting
for a bus, etc.

Grab my free version and pester me to add the lessons, audio, improve UI, and
conjugator. I'm half way done with version 2. Wish I could share code between
Android and iPhone.

<http://www.h4labs.com>

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galdosd
Is it still worth learning calculus now that there's Mathematica?

