Babel Fish

On February 8, 2010 Fast Company ran an article entitled “Will Google’s Translator Phone lead us to Babylon or Babel On?” The article revealed Google’s plans to design a smartphone that can translate between two languages. The article points out, only half kidding, that this Google product is not all that dissimilar from the Babel fish proposed in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where you could literally stick a small yellow fish (see below) in your ear and be able to communicate with all other species, including aliens. On a more serious note, the author went on to debate the merits, as well as the dangers, of such an invention. Regardless of where you stand in that debate, the fact that Google is moving in this direction is interesting. As Thomas Friedman wrote, the world has become flat. With foreign cultures/markets becoming more accessible, the motivation to learn a foreign language has increased drastically.

Learning a second language is of particular interest to me. My wife is French. She has relatives in France that we visit on a fairly regular basis. And though her parents are here in the US, most conversations we have with them typically take place in French. So clearly, there are many occasions in which I would benefit from being fluent in French. For the past several years, I have utilized a combination of classes, tutors, flash cards, podcasts, subtitled movies, and computer software to attempt to learn. Unfortunately, I’m still not proficient in French and probably have a ways to go before I’m there.

I suspect that there are many people out there who share my frustration. And unless, or until, Google solves this problem for each of us, we are left with the usual suspects in terms of language acquisition. But I would venture to guess that someone out there can build a better customer experience for those of us motivated to learn a new language.

Perhaps it is Rosetta Stone. On January 26, 2010, Rosetta Stone opened an “experience store” in Times Square. The store is designed to allow customers to fully engage in their dynamic immersion method of teaching a language. Or perhaps it will require a new approach entirely. BusinessWeek ran an article on February 19, 2010, entitled “Second Language Comes Faster When Taught in Own Accent.” The article argued that using native accents, which is common, is far less effective of a teaching method. For better results, languages should be taught using the learner’s own accent. This is quite different from anything I’ve seen or heard.

For my paper, I would like to explore whether the generative research concepts we discuss in class could be applied to language acquisition products in order to improve the overall customer experience. As the Fast Company article demonstrates, there is sufficient demand for these types of products. And as the BusinessWeek article proves, there are insights to be gleaned that can improve the customer experience. How do we learn best? Are there better methods for different ages? Are there better methods for people with certain backgrounds? Is there a combination of tools that could be used for greater results? Are some people just not able to grasp a second language at all? There is a boatload of questions that could steer us in the right directon. Many of these topics have been addressed in scholarly papers – the importance of language, perspectives on teaching and learning. But I’d like to more fully explore the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches within the context of our class learnings.