The document discusses the importance of learning foreign languages despite advances in translation technology. It argues that while translation software is useful, being multilingual offers social, cognitive, and career benefits that software cannot provide, such as communicating naturally with others worldwide, boosting confidence, and standing out from other candidates for jobs and projects involving foreign partners. Overall, the document concludes that studying a foreign language remains essential for one's development and career progression rather than dismissing it as unnecessary due to translation apps.
The document discusses the importance of learning foreign languages despite advances in translation technology. It argues that while translation software is useful, being multilingual offers social, cognitive, and career benefits that software cannot provide, such as communicating naturally with others worldwide, boosting confidence, and standing out from other candidates for jobs and projects involving foreign partners. Overall, the document concludes that studying a foreign language remains essential for one's development and career progression rather than dismissing it as unnecessary due to translation apps.
The document discusses the importance of learning foreign languages despite advances in translation technology. It argues that while translation software is useful, being multilingual offers social, cognitive, and career benefits that software cannot provide, such as communicating naturally with others worldwide, boosting confidence, and standing out from other candidates for jobs and projects involving foreign partners. Overall, the document concludes that studying a foreign language remains essential for one's development and career progression rather than dismissing it as unnecessary due to translation apps.
The advancement of technology has had a huge impact on society, with the computer being one of the greatest
inventions. Hence, our perception of learning
foreign languages as a waste of time is due to the abundance of computer software that can translate languages easily. In my opinion, I disagree with this statement, as learning foreign languages is essential for one's development as it allows an individual to communicate with people worldwide and offers many career opportunities. On the one hand, foreign language proficiency is a crucial skill that allows one to connect and communicate with people worldwide in a relevant manner. Further, it also boosts their confidence during communication. For instance, the inability to understand and speak English can lead to difficulties for those who work or study overseas if they rely entirely on their translation apps for their daily communication, as they lack the collocations and phrasal verbs native speakers use to communicate naturally. This can make it tough to build close relationships. Translation software and apps offer benefits, but it is essential to learn a foreign language. On the other hand, a person who studies a foreign language opens themselves to more career opportunities than others. Studies have shown that bilingual or multilingual people are smarter and tend to perform better in their careers. For example, when an invidial is proficient in a foreign language, they have an edge in engaging in projects with foreign partners, which makes them standout, be valued in job settings, and earn a salary accordingly for their level of expertise. Many support the view that machine translation is becoming increasingly popular due to advancements in technology that can translate any foreign language depending on its context, making it more accurate than manual translation with ease. Perhaps in the future, translation apps will be used more widely. In short, computers can be used to accommodate a variety of sectors, but I personally think that being multilingual may make a person stand out from the crowd and efficiently progress in their profession. Therefore, the only way is to spend time studying a foreign language rather than dismissing it as a waste of time.