NL 2 EN
I’m out on the street, and a Dutch kid tries to talk to me in his most natural language. All I can do is meekly utter: “Could you say that in English please?”
Fortunately, I wouldn’t have to, if he’d started a virtual conversation—thanks to Google’s amazing feat about which, I haven’t had time to appreciate it in all my honesty. This is almost like talking with someone over the phone and your phone company appropriately translates speaker’s language according to your preferred setting.
In the case of that Dutch kid, I’d invite him to chat over Google Talk; invite a bot (as my Dutch language translator in a group chat1), and we could have a conversation without leaving each other’s (language) comfort zones.
Languages still do not translate perfectly, but still, this is perhaps one of those steps that deserves heartfelt appreciation—for advancing on things that are largely ignored by everyone else.
Oh by the way, I could even invite him to read this blog in his own language—if he so preferred.
- By adding this following address as my friend into my Google Talk software:
nl2en@bot.talk.google.com. [←]