#automatic language translator

[rozarens]

I'm watching Orb's ep15 and I see it's not just the orb itself which demands sacrifices.

It's also Polish language, lol.

[rigelmejo]

Something that always annoys me is the idea only 1 language learning method works. Which is not true. While it may be possible that, for a particular individual, only a few out of many study methods may work well enough for That Individual to make progress and stay motivated... that doesn't mean all the other study methods won't work for anyone else out there, or that those few methods will work for every other given person.

Obviously if you've been studying a while, then you already figured out what kinds of things work for you and don't. If you're a beginner, just wading into studying?

I would suggest you simply look for study methods that: 1. Teach you new things regularly, 2. Review and practice things you've learned, 3. Include studying things you need for your particular goals (for example if your goal is to read X book then the study materials at some point should involve reading practice and some words the book contains, if your goal is to talk about Y then the study materials should include some information about pronunciation and words you'll need to be able to say).

As you can imagine, a TON of study materials will meet these requirements. And you can study a given skill in a LOT of ways.

(Reading is my focus lol so just for reading, a beginner might: do vocabulary study with lists or conversations with native speakers or watching shows and looking words up or listening to dialogues with a transcript like in a textbook or graded readers or a picture book with word labels in the target language or a video game with labelled objects in target language, all of those things as long as your vocabulary is improving or reading practice is happening would help you make progress). So to improve reading skill as a beginner: you could study with a textbook, a podcast with transcript, a classroom or tutor with words written down in target language (like TPRS), a video game, a TV show and a translate app on your phone, a friend you talk with (who either writes words down or you look up words you hear with a translate app), a friend you text with, srs flashcards like anki (provided there's text) etc. As long as there's new words, and/or you're practicing reading, the study method may work. If it works will come down to if you can stay motivated doing it regularly, and make sure you regularly learn some new things and review/practice things you've already studied.

So consider those things when you see people selling a study method as a product (especially when it's costing you money). Consider if it teaches you NEW things, and are those new things related to your goals, and how MUCH new stuff will it teach you before you finish it? Consider if it provides review or practice, or if you can use it's materials to review on your own making up your own method, or if you'll need to do separate review/practice.

So examples:

LingQ. Can it teach you many new words? Yes, thousands, since you can import any texts you want when you get done with their provided material (I have no idea how much their beginner material covers though in terms of words... I would hope 1000-3000 words but that can be researched). Is your goal reading? It's suited to reading, so you will practice and review often with it. Cost? I think it was $12 a month when I last had it, and the price may have increased. Is it worth it? Depends on a learner's needs. I found it was wasting my money, so I chose to use free tools like Pleco and Readibu apps - since those apps are suited for Chinese learners and have better translations, Pleco has better paid graded reader material if I was going to spend money, and both Pleco and Readibu let me import texts so I can learn thousands of new words just like LingQ but free. Now that I'm not a beginner, I often use Microsoft Edge to read chinese... since I can still click-translate words easily (all my web browsers have that tool free), and Edge's TTS voice is helpful for pronunciation and sounds quite good. I read webnovels online so Edge works well. But it's translations aren't as good as Pleco or Readibu, so if I still needed translations more I would use them. So... is LingQ a good study method? Its certainly a study method marketed to buy. Well... the method is suited to improving reading skill, at least. It costs money, which is a negative, but it does offer a lot. However: everything it does regarding reading can be done free with other apps or sites or web browsers on their own. So if paying money motivates you to read... sure. LingQ does have a few word tracking features a learner may find worth the money, keeping in mind the actual read-to-learn method can be done free without lingq. (Also... while LingQ is a valid option for improving reading, if the learners goal is speaking then it would be important to think of what study activities the learner will do OUTSIDE of LingQ to improve speaking... because I've seen how LingQ is marketed as "how to learn a language" but it's only focused on some skills. It has vocabulary and grammar in some sense, since you'll read a lot and encounter new words and structures. But it doesnt have speaking or writing practice at least last time I was on it. Those activities would need to be worked on, on your own).

You can do that kind of cost/benefit contemplating with any study method material you see being sold. Amother example: there's a beginner Mandarin course called Mandarin Blueprint. It teaches like 800 words. Thats all. It may be worthwhile for a beginner... who still needs to learn 800 common words. But if you already know a few hundred words, the benefit of the course is less, you'll need to find a new material to teach you more new stuff soon. And the price was like a few hundred for the course... which for me personally was too much to spend, when I had already learned 800 hanzi from a book that cost me 12 dollars and 2000 words from a free user made memrise deck. The course claimed to get a person speaking, competent, but anyone not a beginner would say speaking basically with 800 words is nowhere near the level of working in Chinese or just doing a lot of daily life stuff, or reading/listening to media. (Although for the motivated beginner if you're learning 800 words on your own like I was, its definitely close to the point of jumping to learn more words and start reading kids and teenager books, and watching easier shows if you're willing to look new words up). So to me... Mandarin Blueprint felt like overselling some basic beginner materials. (Again when I know several other things that teach beginner stuff either more in depth so HSK test prep classes, and college courses, or that teach beginner stuff to the same depth as Mandarin Blueprint but free).

Some study materials aren't going to act like they teach everything. I've seen chinese courses just for learning to speak tones better and general pronunciation - probably worthwhile if your goal is to improve speaking and a teacher could help improve the issues your having. But a learner needs to be aware for that course that they'll need to study vocabulary on their own, its JUST a pronunciation improvement course.

[lilbittymonster]

Was thinking about Kitali and languages as I was falling asleep last night and she's gonna sound weird and out of place no matter where in Ishgard she is bc of how many registers she mixes.

Like she would absolutely have learned to speak Ishgardian before she learned to read it, and most of that exposure would've been with working class people from the Brume and the lower levels of the city. And especially so during the Restoration because she would've been spending most, if not all of, her time with the Skysteel workers. So she's going to adopt most of the speech patterns and mannerisms from them.

And then she's also married to a nobleman, who has a distinctly different speech pattern and accent, and because she spends the time she's not working or out dealing with Scion bullshit with him, she's going to pick those up as well and incorporate it into her understanding of The Ishgardian Language.

And because she learned to speak it before she learned to read it, the first time she tries to read one of Aymeric's books not written in Eorzean common, she's going to look up at him with anguish and confusion and betrayal as if he's the one responsible for why Ishgardian is spelled Like That. And then proceeds to bitch and moan about it while trying to reverse engineer it through context clues alone.

And then on top of all that, once Estinien joins the Scions and she's spending a lot of time around him and speaking in Ishgardian to deliberately exclude everyone else from their conversations, she's going to pick up his Coerthan idioms because I think he would stubbornly cling to those even after living in Ishgard for 20 years.

I just think language barriers are neat and I feel like they aren't utilised in game enough bc Video Game Mechanics.

[izzymalec]

die automatic translations, die

[inkdoe]

It's a real shame I write in italian and not in english, cause I have so many stupid kotor fanfics that only my friends will (maybe) ever read, and it's a shame I keep harassing them when I'm sure there are other desperate people who like me have read through all the revanasi content of AO3-

[skyloftian-nutcase]

So speaking of magic affecting biology. What long-term biological affects do you think the various transformations the LU boys have gone through have on them? I think with Twilight and Legend, the affects are more evident with their markings, but beyond just facial markings, how do the transformations affect them? Does Twilight need to eat more meat or eat his meat rarer than before? Does Legend learn towards a more vegetarian diet and feel sick if he eats meat or need to hydrate more often because of t he fish tail item? Does Time sometimes fluctuate between different baselines depending on the many, many transformations he has? Does Hyrule require sugar the way we require proteins and carbs?

I mean, you can have as much fun with it as possible, I can’t realistically say what effects magic would have lol. Personally, the way I look at it is lingering habits rather than physical effects.

Twi automatically has wolf instincts and mannerisms when he becomes one. If he’s been one too long, some habits bleed over for a little bit when he turns back. Big stretches, zoomies that he just doesn’t bother reeling in, flopping on people. But he has to be a wolf a good while for that to seep over - it happens far more on his adventure than in LU.

If Time switches between masks too much in too short a span of time, he’ll forget his body’s size/capabilities. He gets stuck in a hole one time, his butt and legs wiggling helplessly, because he’d been a deku scrub earlier and something else before that and, well, the hole looked like he’d fit in it. No, he’s never calling for help, he’ll just stay here until he can unstick himself, thank you very much.

I feel like Legend is ashamed for his dark world form and would avoid ever turning into it if possible. But maybe during his adventure he’d freeze up when he hears something, like a bunny does, and it’s a habit that has continued because it allows him to better examine his surroundings.

Hyrule very much strikes me as somebody who will do anything to accomplish a goal and not necessarily think twice about it. He’d jump in and out of fairy form within a minute’s time, so it would never be long enough to really develop any kind of habits. That boy’s always on the move, but I feel like he prefers being himself rather than, say, turn into a fairy and explore the whole world like that. But that’s just the vibe I get 🤷🏻‍♀️

[parcai]

ok actually i love french idec

[theprissythumbelina]

The only thing more stressful than writing emails is writing emails in a different language. God I hope I'm saying what I think I'm saying. I really really hope.

[wowbright]

IDK if there's anyone out there who can help with this, but I am studying physics and chemistry and for some reason, as long as I can remember, I always initially process "nuclear fission" as meaning "nuclear fusion."

Like, intellectually, I know what the actual words mean and if I stop and think about it, I can get it right. But I always have to think about it consciously and think through it step by step, which is kind of an inconvenient way to do language.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to get over this? I don't have any diagnosed or suspected specific learning disabilities, and I can't think of any other words/phrases in English (my native language) that give me this problem.

[cassiebones]

No better feeling than somebody reading your fic in English and then commenting excitedly in their own language. So great!

[morganaspendragonss]

hate working in translation sometimes, i had a client come back to me today like ‘ummm sweaty i think you need to check this translation, it says the child is male when it’s not specified in english’

bestie…….thats literally just how portuguese (and spanish and arabic etc etc) works

[sappho-favourite-pupil]

Il mio messaggio finale per te è che meriti di stare da solo

"My final message for you is that you deserve to be alone"

[moldwood]

lote practice friend: im very impressed with how astutely you wrote "i wanna kill him with knives"

me: thank you! 🥰

[lunatic-fandom-space]

convinced my parents not to buy some garbage from tiktok for 20 euros 💯💯💯💯

[morgenlich]

so the medical world, as it were, has this handy little shorthand system that enables clear and efficient communication whether it’s between multiple doctors or a doctor and a pharmacy

for some reason doctors like to ignore this when writing prescriptions

[nateconnolly]

Anyways when I was sixteen I wrote a story about a spaceship's communications officer (think Uhura) who was given a brain implant when he was a baby that automatically translates every language in the universe, but which interferes with his ability to perceive and process subtle changes in tone. He hears an emotionless automated translator voice inside his head rather than hearing the real voices being physically carried by air vibrations. So he has the ability to interpret every word in every language, but he can never interpret tone of voice. And the ultimate message of the story is that understanding every possible text isn't enough -- if you don't understand subtext, you'll be isolated. The "communications officer" actually struggles to communicate more than anyone else on the ship.

You'll never guess what they diagnosed me with a year later.