TOEFL iBT Academic Discussion and Writing 8-1 Will the urgency and relevance of foreign languages will dwindle?

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Question

Do you believe the urgency and relevance of learning foreign languages will dwindle?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

Ask each other the following questions after doing necessary research.

1.        What is Maria’s point? Provide a case in point.

2.        What is Chris’s point? Provide a case in point.

3.        What is your answer to this question? Share your opinion.

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Yes

1.        The vocabulary of AI translation is better and the speed of it is faster than those of humans.

2.        We can use the extra time for other activities.

3.        Google translate is pretty good as long as the sentences are not complicated.

 

No

1.        Acquiring a foreign language is becoming a friend of the people who speak the language.

2.        Machine translation is not complete.

3.        Language learning is for expanding your views.

4.        People trust the person who speaks their language.

 

 

☆Responses for Ideas and Expressions

I believe language learning for basic level communication that doesn’t require background information will become unnecessary for most people. In fact, we are already communicating with people who speak foreign languages with the help of machine translation on social media. Some of the conversations are even in languages we have never heard of. Twitter used to translate most languages including minor ones before, and I hope it will recover the function soon. Also, Google Translate gives us translations of any combinations of languages, including minor languages. Even when the sentence you want to send is long and complicated, if you chop them into short sentences, you can get almost perfect translations. Moreover, the speed and the size of vocabulary of AI beat humans. Therefore, those excruciating days of learning other languages will be gone for most of us who don’t need to have advanced levels of communication in foreign languages. (150 words)

 

I don’t think that learning foreign languages will become less meaningful or of urgent need, since the increasing need of international discourse and cooperation. To tackle international agendas like global warming and nuclear disarmament, people around the world need to understand the gravity of the issues and get motivated to work together for the survival of our species. For this, direct conversations between people who speak different languages are necessary. And here comes the necessity of language learning. Learning a language is not just for translation but also for mutual understanding and friendship between people with different cultures as Maria says. By speaking the language of the people that you are communicating with, you can overcome barriers in inter-cultural communication and earn trust. This hardly happens when you communicate through each other’s phone speakers, which makes you look somewhat like aliens to each other. (144 words)

 

 

☆Response plan

Topic Sentence:

Supporting Details:

Conclusion:

 

                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                    

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

                                               DRAFT