Discover the Benefits of Learning Chinese Beyond AI Translators

The phrase “我要学汉语” can have at least three possible meanings, I want/have to/need to…, which suggests that Chinese is a complex and certainly potentially difficult language. So why do people still WANT to learn it now while we have a lot of good AI translators available?

Because that is your own eagerness now! You WANT to, instead of you “have to” or “need to”!

An unexpected reason why Chinese is the most worthwhile language to learn.

The ultimate goal of learning a foreign language is to gain a different “experience”. The greater the difference between a foreign language and your mother tongue, the more novel and profound the experience will be. So if you find yourself exclaiming “Chinese is so different from my mother tongue”, then congratulations! You have found the best foreign language to learn.

While AI translators can assist you in your studies, they cannot replace the learning process itself.

How good are the AI translators today?

AI translators have come a long way in the past 12 months.

In situations where there is a high degree of error tolerance-where mistakes won’t cause significant issues— AI translators can be very useful.

Compared the era when we still referred them as “AI Idiot translator” before, since Sept, 2023, AI translators have improved 100 times, making it suitable for more contexts with fewer errors.

For example, ordering food from a Chinese restaurant with an AI translator carries a much lower risk of mistakes. Anyway, if there is an error, you might be able to taste something with a pleasant surprise.

In a Chinese forum, there are several brands of AI translator headsets that can make you forget you don’t speak any Mandarin, for those AI translators often outperform human interpreters in fluency. (I mean, just fluency. 😄)

Even in business negotiations, you can just speak and wait for the AI translator to do the work.

Translation of Chinese, how awful that all AI translators CANNOT be relied on!

At the end of a business meeting, would you trust an AI-generated contract in Chinese?

If you visit a Chinese hospital, do you dare to rely on AI to help you buy medicine?

To give you a scary example, ChatGPT translated the Chinese medicine “白果” literally into “white fruit”. But this “white fruit” is not a fruit at all, and it is extremely toxic.

A real-life case involves one of my Italian students. During a meeting, when he tried using an AI translator to translate a sentence in Italian to more than 20 Chinese subordinates, everyone smiled strangely.

Very concerned, he asked if there was an issue with the translation. Everyone replied, “no problem, understood you, boss!” But the answer didn’t relieve him at all.

I have many such examples of awkwardness.

Why do you still need to learn Chinese yourself?

First and foremost, as I mentioned, the best AI translators are still too unreliable for nuanced Chinese language translation.

Secondly, Chinese language, Chinese characters, in the end, is by no means just a tool for communication. The process of learning and using this language and its characters is basically an experience, an experience of Chinese culture, but also an “experience of the Chinese people”, that is, the process of understanding of the Chinese people’s mindset.

Translators can’t help with that.

First, you want to try it yourself.

It’s akin to eating Chinese food.

Comparing “speaking Chinese yourself” with “using an AI translator” is the same as comparing “the taste of a dish in a Chinese restaurant” with “reading a Chinese food magazine”.

Can you see a big problem here?😄

Speaking Mandarin yourself OR Using AI Translator

Try dishes in a Chinese restaurant OR Reading a Chinese Cuisine Menu

When you have a chance to order food in a Chinese restaurant, of course, having an AI translator is helpful, but what if the waiter is very attractive？At this point, even the simplest words, as long as they are appropriate and polite, can create a much better impression than an AI translator can.

Second, you can have your brain improved.

Another unexpected benefit of learning Chinese and characters is that it will exercise your “wasted parts of the brain”. The Chinese language, especially the characters uses many parts of your brain that may be underutilized when speaking or reading English.

Third, speaking and reading Chinese can demonstrate a lot of things.

Since 2024, AI translators have become cheap and accessible. The only thing an AI translator can demonstrate now is that you don’t speak Chinese.

However, even if you can only speak two sentences of Chinese, or only know these three characters “一, 二、三”, it will make people think that you are very smart.

Even the HSK1 Chinese proficiency test results can add valuable credibility to your resume.

I once worked with a language genius. When he introduced himself to people, he always said, “I can speak six European languages and Chinese”. He never claimed “seven languages” because mentioning “Chinese” would astonish people once more. People always say, “Six? Wow! … Chinese? Wow wow!”

Speaking and reading Chinese also proves your ability to engage in China-related work and to earn the trust of your boss. Conversely, saying, “I don’t speak or read Chinese, but I read a lot of books about Chinese business culture ” is unlikely to convince anyone of your suitability for a position in China.

Speaking and reading Chinese showcases your interest in China and its culture, fostering respect and trust among Chinese people.

A tourist who tries hard to speak a few words of broken Mandarin can also earn respect of the Chinese - because the Chinese can feel that you respect to them - while an expat executive who refuses to learn Chinese may struggle to gain the trust of Chinese colleagues and clients.

You can learn Chinese just for enjoyment in the age of AI.

Studying Chinese now is easier and less risky. You can enjoy it now!

AI translation technology has made the motivation to learn Chinese purer for us. While AI translators can handle basic communication effectively, and will surpass human translators soon, the decision of whether to learn Chinese or not is not mainly driven by utilitarian purposes, but mainly depends on one’s subjective will and desire.

AI translation also makes it much less risky for people to learn Chinese.

Why? What would be the risk of learning Chinese? It’s the risk of being hit by frustration.

I have had a lot of multinational executive students, who are successful in all respects, but they find the biggest frustration in life is learning Chinese.

Nowadays, all kinds of AI tools have made it much less difficult to learn Chinese.

For example, two of my students have recently achieved HSK level 5 (often referred to as “using Chinese as a working language”) in just 300 hours of study.

There are two main reasons for this achievement.

1. It is of course due to our advanced learning theories and correct teaching methods😄;
2. It is that they are also using the latest AI-era learning apps.