Is Technology Telling Us It's Time To Say 'Adios' To Learning Languages?

Language is undeniably a fundamental part of our lives. It is the building blocks of communication and the way in which we live as a modern society relies so heavily on the use of spoken word. And the variety of languages in the world only adds to the vividness that is our phenomenal earth. Learning new languages is both a privilege and a journey in its own right, not only teaching us a vibrant new transferable skill, but also opening our minds to a new way of seeing the world, of experiencing life and culture in the most exciting new way. Many employers look for these language skills and many students crave the chance to learn them - so why is there a question of its extinction?

Fundamentally the answer is technology. A new way of experiencing the world: through a screen by staring at a plethora of tiny pixels all coming together to interpret wonders one cannot see anywhere else (particularly in these pressing times of the pandemic). Technology is incredible - that I cannot doubt - but is there a time to say stop and think about how much it has taken as well as given?

Perhaps you have heard of 'Googles' new project, their new device to alter the way people can live: The Pixel Buds. These new headphones (also made by many other companies too) have been fashioned to translate a foreign language straight into your ear in real time, allowing you (as long as you pay the price) to travel anywhere you wish and understand the language of the people without the pressures of learning a whole new language. Sounds idyllic, perhaps? An innovative creation designed to help so many people - yet there are still drawbacks to this device.

While you can hear sufficiently and understand impeccably, conversations rely on a minimum of two parties to function successfully, so it would require your counterpart to also have a device of a similar nature in order to communicate - unless they are fluent in your native language, in which case they are a perfect fit. And naturally I understand the counter to my argument: this is an innovative creation that can assist so many people and save time in many essential cases.

This all makes perfect sense, and I cannot dispute the wonder that consumes me when I consider the technological sensation and the advancements that have happened to our world in even the most recent years. However, there is a fear: this new innovation, this exciting creation, this remarkable device does all of the learning for you, therefore any skill learnt in a language would become immediately redundant the second you put in the headphones and hit that enticing little on button on the side. The fundamental necessities of learning a language to explore will become void, as money and technology can solve it for you. And naturally, of course, there is still a passion for language that is found in so many people, both young and old, but with the intense practice and commitment it requires, it may fall to the simplicity and ease of these triumphant corporations.

It is a dilemma that elicits an unlimited number of answers and opinions, and the relevance of it to the individual is subjective: it is entirely reliant on you as the learner to decide whether the culturally enriching drive to learn about a whole new, foreign land is worthy of the time - as we could perhaps already be in the early stages of heading towards language-learning extinction, and now is the time to decide if it's worth saving for the future of knowledge and intellect.

Please let us know what you think about the discussion on any of our platforms, and whether you feel that the future of learning a new language is in danger or too fundamental in our world to ever disappear?