MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Will be in the future useless to learn a...

Will be in the future useless to learn a foreign language?


I mean, in order to get good jobs in some companies. It is still of importance to speak several languages but if in the future everyone is going to have in the smartphone or at work a translater App I am not so sure if it still will be important or not to learn them.

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Learning languages is a superb way of opening up new synaptic pathways in your brain 🧠

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Yes, I know, I know I mean if in the future, in career terms, will still be of importance.

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Once we reach the stage of ‘Star Trek Universal Translator’ level, then yes.

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Do programming languages count?

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I would say so, yes. I personally count music as a language too.

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"The cosmos was formed according to and upon the basis of laws which are expressed as music, arithmetic and geometry. They bring about harmony, order and balance. "
Edgar Cayce (The Sleeping Prophet)

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Estonte ĉiuj parolos la saman lingvon ĉiukaze.

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I think it would be cool to have a universal sign language.

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It's a wonder no-one has attempted to create one. Then again, I don't suppose there's any reason for a USL to be any more successful than Esperanto or any other well-meaning attempts to create a universal language. I dunno. Maybe language naturally resists that and spirals off into variation...?

Maybe emojis are the closest we can come to a universal language... I dunno... I'm rambling... scary thought, that.

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Tech isn't always progressing tho'. Ancient Egyptians were able to build the Pyramids 5,000 years ago. But along the course of history, they somehow lost their tech and can't make them anymore.

Maybe there will be something that happens in the future that would prevented translator app to be perfected. Idk, an ongoing semiconductor crisis perhaps, or a massive solar flare disaster, or WW III, etc.

If that happens then you will still need to learn foreign languages in order to get good jobs in some companies for your career. Probably. Who knows?

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But along the course of history, they somehow lost their tech and can't make them anymore.


This is a fallacy. We know how the pyramids were built, it's not a mystery. If we can build outrageous structures like the Three Gorges Dam (which actually slowed down Earth's rotation a teeny bit) and the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge then building any one of the pyramids is not much more challenging than building a casino or skyscraper.

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I meant the time between the age of Pyramids and when they became ruins. Obviously, the world (not the Ancient Egyptians) has gained new tech collectively to build new, better and bigger stuffs in 5,000 years, but still not the same tech they used to built the Pyramids.

Anyway, it was just an exaggerated example. My point was that tech does not always progress in linear fashion. Who knows what will happen in the future that may or may not prevent (or at least pospone) our tech advancement to make the perfect translator app the OP desired.

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Hi, I have never said I would like to have or desire something like this .

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The Egyptians who live there now are far removed from the ones who built pyramids.

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That's why I said Ancient Egyptians, not Egyptians.

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Those translator Apps often come up with some awkward stilted translations. A human still does it best. Knowing the language allows for split second decision making. Yours is a rather silly question.

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Maybe yours is, at least partially, a silly answer.
I am not the one to be convinced how important it is to speak two or more languages.
But it can be that someday some companies will invest in some software or app translator rather than in people with language skills. Hopefully not.

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But translating daily information with an app would not be the only advantage of knowing the language. There would daily contact with coworkers on other matters, maybe by telephone, online meetings, etc.

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I think learning Klingon is a terrific way to prepare for the future.

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You're talking about speaking his language, right?

https://preview.redd.it/vo2epbdy3ybz.jpg?auto=webp&s=46b773bfe2dc0107b1ba912e855a0413adc68e31

🤭

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[deleted]

It would still be useful to know a second or third language.

Technology can fail.

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i think the internet has made english even more the universal language.

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