It doesn't negate my point at all about international travel. If you want to be pedantic, that's your prerogative, but your data here is also wrong and I'll elaborate.
Roughly 20% of Europeans can speak 3 languages including English.
Per Pew Research, 92% of Europeans study a foreign language in their primary education vs. only 20% of American students.
The raw data on where is even more interesting, because many northern states offer a greater amount of foreign language education vs. southern states, which is the inverse of what you'd expect given border proximity and cultural enclaves.
Sources attached.
So anyway, the live translation feature is very useful for the vast majority of Americans traveling outside of North America, and still useful for many Americans in North America who never learned Spanish, which is most of them.
The post I was replying to was talking about shared cultures etc. and this type of technology that allows you to understand people helps connection in a frictionless way which is great.
As I said I think people should still learn a second language regardless, for both the cultural and neurological benefits.
) studied a second language, it was required for 2 years at minimum. But most had nowhere near even a true intermediate-level fluency at the end of two years. My observation was that both the teaching materials, teacher quality, the administration's lack of real concern (about foreign languages), and then most students' similar disinterest in second or third languages as just 'not useful' in their projected lives. Even some students who really did apply themselves could not function using the second language after 2 or even 3 years of study (and they were smart kids).
