Translation technology is altering the status quo of language education

Sir, – Back in the last century I studied Latin until the then Intermediate Certificate exam. I still enjoy parsing the etymology of English words and the richness gained by the insights. But in “Mind your Languages”, (Letters, August 1st), there is a rose-tinted harking back to the supposed educational, business and employment imperative for the mastering of a number of languages in the modern world that is esoteric and outdated.

There are forestry workers from Georgia, Latvia and Estonia working in my area. To communicate we use Google Translate. I speak and the phone speaks to them and they reply and the phone speaks to me in English. It’s simple, effective and brilliant.

I studied Irish for 14 years and can hardly muster a coherent sentence. I also completed an Arts degree and good luck with studying that today if “gainful” employment is your aim. It’s difficult to persuade me that today it’s educational time well spent to pursue the study of languages with the availability of this new technology.

Something will be lost for sure, but I don’t hear many bemoaning or lamenting the absence of Latin from our curriculum. We must be pragmatic and move with the times. – Yours, etc,