First Draft: 500-1000 Words

Study abroad; there’s quite a lot of praise thrown its way in how it will aid students in becoming stronger, better, faster. Well, perhaps it’s not lauded as making students superhuman but it’s true that often it’s seen as a way to strengthen a student’s intercultural awareness, which supposedly will have a rippling effect in other areas, increasing one’s expertise as a student; this would theoretically increase a student’s general performance and ultimately make them more hirable by companies that seek only the best. All of these things are all well and great but studying abroad is arguably useless if a student has no means to communicate with the local communities found within the student’s respective destination of travel. Much of what is advertised about study-abroad programs involves the key ability to gather with foreign citizens and discuss matters of perspective and culture. This becomes problematic for study abroad students who either don’t speak the language found in the area or at best only have a very elementary understanding of the language. To be frank, I fall under the category just described. After two years of high-school Spanish classes I’m, at best, able to decipher greetings. In almost stereotypical American fashion the only phrases I inherently know are “como te llama” (“what’s your name?”) and “hola” (“hello”). Like many others, I’ll be traveling to Valencia, Spain via Florida State Universities study-abroad program. English speaking students, like myself, who travel to Valencia, Spain; a metropolitan city located in the western point of Europe, are faced with the need to speak the Spanish language in order to interact with the natives. Due to low English speaking rates among Spain’s inhabitants the ability to translate languages is vital for study abroad students. A tool that could potentially remedy this complication is Googles web based translator service named Google Translate.

Google Translate obviously seeks to be a go-to in-pocket translator. It is capable of converting between two specified languages that are written as text or even, in real time, translate language that is spoken. This provides a massive benefit to Spain’s study abroad students who do not know how to fluently speak Spanish, as well as other languages. The ease of access are astronomical components that make Google Translate such a useful app. Yet, despite this incredibly easy alternative to learning the Spanish language, shuffling through an English to Spanish book, or having a physical translator constantly on duty to offer translations, there are many pitfalls to Google Translate that prove it as potentially unreliable.

The most immediate effect of Google Translates services is it offers translations at a whim. Google Translate is free so it’s accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Even to those who don’t have unlimited access to internet services could be accommodated since languages can be downloaded for offline use at any time. With phones being found in just about everyone’s pocket or hand Google Translate becomes a superior tool that is capable of aiding anyone with a deficiency in speaking foreign languages. This will allow the app to work as a guiding force for study-abroad students who are unfamiliar with Spanish. By opening up this window to the Spanish language it gives access to local Spaniards who likely would be unable to communicate with students. Google Translate was developed out of the need to actively be capable of understanding foreign languages and this translates well to study abroad students. Students isolation from cultures via a language barrier would be detrimental to the study abroad program and that’s why such apps, specifically Google Translate, were created. According to a review in the “British Medical Journal” Google Translate was informally tested amongst staff who spoke a non-English language(s) and was found to be a satisfactory way to communicate between languages; a recommendation to use Google Translate as an alternative for doctors treating other languages was included due to the programs ability to customize textual translations at will (Wade, 1049). This reflects the capability of such a program since it can act as a viable replacement to active translators.