Another reason not to learn a foreign language

The New York Times has an article by a reporter who does not speak more than a few words of Japanese but, for the most part, did not need to on a recent visit.  He used Apple's new Live Translation feature, which is built into AirPods Pro 3. When the feature is activated and someone speaks to you in Japanese (or Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Korean with more to come), you hear what is said in English.

The reporter attended a fire ritual at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo wearing one earbud. "Two monks pounded giant taiko drums as others chanted in unison under a cloud of fragrant smoke. Then the priest delivered closing remarks in Japanese. And in a miracle of technology, I understood quite a bit of it."

As he and his guide left, he repeated, in English, some of the priest’s comments to his guide to be sure had had understood correctly. "I recounted the priest’s admonition to set aside unwholesome feelings of anger and greed, and work instead to show compassion and generosity, as well as his reminder that his temple was still accepting donations for those affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. '

"You told me you didn’t speak Japanese,' my guide said, pleasantly surprised. Beyond a few basic greetings and food terms, I don’t."

So there you are. If a Japanese contact also has the AirPods you can speak in English your companion will hear Japanese. Until now you have had to talk to your iPhone in English and the Japanese will appear on the screen via Google Translate or the Translate app on the phone.

While the program is not as knowledgeable as a knowledgable human—it has problems with gendered languages, in noisy environments, and if someone speaks rapidly—it is a remarkable achievement. So why make the effort to learn one of the languages AI already knows?

Here's the link to the Times story: 
https://www.nytimes.com/202https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/travel/airpods-live-translation-japan.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20251226&instance_id=168491&nl=the-morning&regi_id=89905373&segment_id=212775&user_id=f9b3114fc341a88716a8c238d80c98c65/