If you're a translator, tech-powered services like these must either be an irritation or, worse, drive your accuracy radar mad.
But Google, in this case, probably isn't appealing to those. It seems more likely than not that translation services will gain popularity with travelers at least, even at the expense of appeasing those that live and breath linguistics.
I am very wary of Google Translate, especially given all the hype surrounding it.
But despite my distaste, I recognize some astonishing facts about this bête noire of mine.
It is accessible for free to anyone on earth, and will convert text in any of roughly 100 languages into text in any of the others.
That is humbling.
The practical utility of Google Translate and similar technologies is undeniable, and probably it’s a good thing overall, but there is still something deeply lacking in the approach, which is conveyed by a single word: understanding.