Technology as Translators

As my Google alerts continue to send me articles, and I continue to refine my search criteria (for some reason I keep getting articles about Sears going bankrupt...), I am finding a wealth of relevant material.

This week I came across two articles that deal with using various technology and applications as translating tools so that students learning English as a second language (ELL) can be understood in the general educational setting.

The company Verizon has a program entitled "Dare to Dream," in which they provide technology to students in their Verizon Innovative Learning (VIL) schools. This technology allows students to communicate with their peers, and includes translation and learning apps such as iTranslate, Google Translate, FluentU and Duolingo. I feel that each of these applications are worth looking into, and that they can be a valuable resource in the classroom, when used appropriately. Like any tool in education, it should be fully understood and concisely implemented. The article goes on to tell a number of stories of students using technology in a way to communicate about their incredible classroom projects, reasoning, and problem solving. (https://www.verizon.com/about/news/atrevete-sonar-or-dare-dream)

A second article that I was alerted to this week, entitled "Language learners use Chromebooks to write, speak, hear themselves and others," tells about a school district that received a grant to purchase Chromebooks for use in their foreign language and ELL classrooms. The Chromebooks come with a variety of applications, saving work directly to the cloud. While none of the applications listed in the article (Google Classroom, TextHelp, and Twisted Wave) are direct translators, each can be utilized with translating programs in order to provide students with a more efficient way to communicate in the language they are learning. (https://rochellenews-leader.com/article/language-learners-use-chromebooks-to-write-speak-hear-themselves-and-others)

When considering technological translators, we must be aware of what we are using. I feel that it is important to point out that, while translating applications can be useful in the classroom, they also come with some drawbacks. Because different languages have different grammatical rules, translation can often be unclear and confusing, particularly for younger students. Figurative language can also be incredibly difficult to understand, even when translated perfectly. Idioms for example, have deep cultural context that may be difficult to translate or understand for a second language learner. Translation tools can be useful, but they need to be carefully implemented with these drawbacks taken into consideration.