＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
１．Pocketalk, the automatic translator that became the talk of the town after a commercial featuring Akashiya Sanma
Pocketalk,” an automatic translator that won the ‘Grand Prize’ of the 2018 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards, is a ‘dream AI interpreter’ that supports 74 languages, and has sold more than 400,000 units.
This is a product of So Next Corporation, a company that plans, develops, and sells PC and smartphone software and hardware products, and is priced at about 35,000 yen with a wide warranty.
It is a “two-way voice translator that allows users to speak to each other in their own language” by translating the words they speak into a variety of languages.
It is a tool like Doraemon’s secret tool “Translator Konnyaku” that has become a reality.
２．Smartphone “automatic translation apps”
There are also smartphone “automatic translation apps” such as “Google Translate” provided by Google. This is said to be a high-performance translation app that supports 103 languages.
I recently encountered a situation in Osaka where a woman, who appeared to be Chinese, talked into her smartphone, showed it to a Japanese passerby, and asked for directions.
I expect to see this kind of scene everywhere in the future.
３．An effective tool for communication between Japanese and foreigners visiting Japan
Although I have not yet obtained either of the two, I believe that if the “accuracy of translation (interpretation)” continues to improve, it will become a very effective tool for communication between foreign visitors to Japan and Japanese people.
With the Tokyo Olympics and the attraction of IRs to Japan, the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan is expected to increase further in the future.
In such cases, I think there are many cases where there is a “language barrier” between the two parties. There are many aspects of Japanese customs and cuisine that are difficult to translate. However, I think it is much easier to communicate with others than with poor English.
４．Don’t forget to learn English!
It will be a long time before the majority of the population can speak English freely, so for the time being, I think it is a good thing to use these convenient AI devices to communicate with foreigners.
However, on the other hand, as with “automatic car driving,” it would be shameful if we rely entirely on AI and machines and are completely unable to respond when they malfunction or make mistakes in translation.
I believe that we should not neglect efforts to acquire English language skills to be able to correct mistakes.