Google is Building a Duolingo Rival Into the Translate App

Google has integrated AI-powered language learning capabilities into its Translate app through a beta feature that generates customized lessons using its Gemini AI models. The Practice button allows English speakers to learn Spanish and French while Spanish, French, and Portuguese speakers can practice English.

Users select their skill level and learning goals to receive tailored scenarios ranging from professional conversations to family interactions. The company also launched live translation for real-time conversations across 70 languages in the US, India, and Mexico. The feature creates AI-generated transcriptions and audio translations but does not replicate users' voices, the company told The Verge.

Language Learning vs Language Assist

[memory_register]

It appears we are reaching a point where machine translation is good enough for most travelers and minor needs. Are there any slashdotters who have worked in bilingual / multilingual environments? What are you seeing?

Re:

[shanen]

Wow, small world syndrome. I think I have some interesting, fresh, and maybe even relevant anecdotes to share. These are multilingual examples involving various translation problems. Both of these examples involve DS (Deep Seek). I also sometimes use ChatGPT and an AI "support" chatbot offered by Rakuten Mobile (my terrible phone company), but in general I'm trying to limit my mental exposure to the dangerous toys...

The first query involved identifying a Japanese author. My query was mostly in English excep

Re:

[John Allsup]

Comparing learning vs assist: This is like comparing using an exercise machine to help you exercise, and using a robot to do the hard work of your workout for you. (Or going for a long ride on an e-bike vs an old school pedal powered ride.)

Sometimes a machine translator is what you need, but you learn little by using one. And learning is a mental muscle that benefits from regular practice and exercise. I did try Lango, but had too much trouble with the AI engine timing out or something (probably they lacked

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[sims 2]

I'd trust it more for imperfect translation than a learning aid.

You generally have to verify anything AI says at this point and if you don't know the language you're going to have a really hard time noticing when it's hallucinating things for your lesson plan.

That said duolingo is going the same stupid route of having AI write it's lesson plans.

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[c120plus]

Normal machine translation is still quite bad - especially google translate vs. ChatGPT for Spanish. It gives you something close most of the time, but fails as soon as there's a mix of English with other languages, slang language or if the original text has typos.

LLM translations are so spot on (with a little context and the correct prompt) that one of the reasons I'm paying for ChatGPT pro is assisting in language learning.

But you're correct, Google's offering is good enough for minor things and travellin

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[cmseagle]

A friend of mine works at a university. They've noticed a trend over the past few years of foreign students who can achieve high marks on their written assignments (by writing in their native language and having a tool like ChatGPT translate, presumably), but struggle to engage in classroom discussion because they haven't had a need to develop English language skills to nearly the same degree as in the past.

Maybe that'll become irrelevant as AI tools for live interpretation improve? But for the time being

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[Applehu Akbar]

Now the Privacy Rapists will groom you, without you realizing it, instead.

Furthermore, they will now be competing for the longest streaks of grooming days. Hide your daughters now.

Translation device vs translation learning

[registrations_suck]

If I have a device that does translation, I just need it to do translation.

I don't need it to try to teach me to translation any more than I need my calculator to try to teach me math.

but do they have a Lily ?

[Micah NC]

If they don't have a Lily with purple hair, then I don't even want to hear about it.

Re:

[antdude]

Also, Junior that keeps messing up that his dad has to fix!

Sell ! Sell !

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

Duolingo is toast. Get out if possible. Translators and others trained Google Translate from a terrible program to a program good enough to kill the translation industry. Looks like Duolingo is in the crosshairs. Translation is a commodity. Why pay for what you can get for free*.

*I guess you're the product then.

Re:

[John Allsup]

Paid annually, Duolingo is inexpensive for something I use for a few minutes every day. (Streak at 1400, and that has a powerful effect on making you do at least one lesson per day.) Motivating someone to practise daily is something Duolingo does a good job of. I tried a cheap AI chatbot thing with speech and voice recognition, but it seemed their AI servers were overloaded, so I never got into it. But if Google can make a chatbot I can interact with, especially vocally, I'm sure to give it a good go. Tryin

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[ukoda]

I'll see your 1400 day streak and raise that to 1976. I forget what the price I was offered but it seemed expensive in my local currency for the amount of time I spent on a computer generated lesson, so I didn't subscribe. It is a useful tool so I did want to give them some return to support them. I do check about once a year to see if the price seem more inline with what I expect. On the other hand I do pay a real human being for a weekly lesson, but think that is reasonably priced for their time. So

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[test321]

You argue they're toast because google translate killed the translation industry. I argue they're toast, but not for this reason. They're an e-learning platform, not a translation service, so there's space for both. But they're toast because they went to be the cheap full AI e-learning solution, and anyone can replicate that easily, even a small team of friends.

The other way would have been a human-first learning platform, which solves a different need, appeals to a different set of customers, can charge pr

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[ceoyoyo]

There are already a whole bunch of web sites for matching students with real teachers, other students, people who want to learn your language and speak the one you want to learn, etc.

Duolingo was always a quick and dirty gamified version of a language textbook. Now they're stuck between a rock and a hard place because that doesn't seem to work very well, the new quick and dirty is language models, and an 800 pound gorilla has taken an interest.

The end of the human languages

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

This shit will kill languages faster than the terrible advertising "translations" that convert everything verbatim.

We'll see even more literal word-swqpoing, non-native word order, foreign sentence patterns and all the other stuff that kills meaning becoming the standard.

A decade of this and the young generations will only speak Engrish.com.

True progress...

Re: The end of the human languages

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

Good jorb, auto-carrot :)

Re:

[cmseagle]

A decade of this and the young generations will only speak Engrish.com.

And they'll all be able to mutually understand that pidgin version of AI English? If the point of language is to enable communication, that seems like a victory.

Re:

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

Sure, a win.

If the level of understanding you're shooting for is how to order any food from a street stall, it is.