I had big plans to brush up on my restaurant Italian before leaving for the trip back in September; big plans that ran head first into reality. I did nothing. To be honest, it didn’t really matter. Most people you deal with in the metro centres of Europe speak English betterer than we do. The only time I really needed translation services was when I had to email the hotel in Saigon to let them know we’d be a day late checking in. Oh, and also once in Lyon trying to work out how to use the washing machine in the AirBnB.
Excellent. Lack of communication is one of the main problems we have in this world. Guaranteed most of them will have Klingon as one of its languages and fingers crossed they will also have moron as a default setting.
Anyway, the main problem I have with speaking a new language (for me, Italiano) is that you hear a sentence in Italian, you translate it into English in your head, formulate a response in English in your head, translate it into perfect Italian in your head, and then speak an imperfect sentence in something resembling Italian. All this takes time, and makes for a bumbling conversation. I really like it when an Italian word will just drop without the bullshit going on in your head.
I'm also pretty old school, and would rather learn it than, well, cheat, but I think it would be worth getting your vowels and a few other pronunciation things right too before just reading a bunch of words off your eyeballs.
It would be great if they could integrate it into the customer service departments of cell phone providers and satellite tv services . And drive throughs here
but think of the Rom-Coms, when they can no longer rely on the trope of the language ignorant white person in a foreign land Colin Firth's whole stick in Love Actually GONE.... well on reflection this is a positive... carry on.
I want my Universal Translator.
"My hovercraft is full of eels."
Excellent. Lack of communication is one of the main problems we have in this world. Guaranteed most of them will have Klingon as one of its languages and fingers crossed they will also have moron as a default setting.
Didn't Douglas Adams get here first with a fish?
Anyway, the main problem I have with speaking a new language (for me, Italiano) is that you hear a sentence in Italian, you translate it into English in your head, formulate a response in English in your head, translate it into perfect Italian in your head, and then speak an imperfect sentence in something resembling Italian. All this takes time, and makes for a bumbling conversation. I really like it when an Italian word will just drop without the bullshit going on in your head.
I'm also pretty old school, and would rather learn it than, well, cheat, but I think it would be worth getting your vowels and a few other pronunciation things right too before just reading a bunch of words off your eyeballs.
Fkn Babel Fish ftw dude. The AI translators will be all like CP30. Shiny bodies but very clunky.
It would be great if they could integrate it into the customer service departments of cell phone providers and satellite tv services . And drive throughs here
but think of the Rom-Coms, when they can no longer rely on the trope of the language ignorant white person in a foreign land Colin Firth's whole stick in Love Actually GONE.... well on reflection this is a positive... carry on.
I coulda used this about a zillion times in my past life.