I think most people who believe they are hopeless at foreign languages would do much better if they aimed to interact with speakers of that language rather than merely aiming to ‘learn a language’ or ‘get a certification in said language’. By having fun interacting and communicating with people of different backgrounds, it doesn’t seem like a chore anymore and what once had no shortcuts, reveals its easier passageways.

Behind Tennoji Station, a ‘sports bar’ opened up and the foreigners who work in the area immediately took a liking to it. Soon after opening, the bar / restaurant had a constant flow of foreign customers, but on more than few occasions I noticed that the owner and staff were not very happy with who their clientele turned out to be. One night, when I had gone there for dinner, I noticed new menus sheathed in plastic folders, with a Microsoft Office look that clearly showed one of the staff members had
put a lot of effort into them. However, one look
at the menu’s text and the bastard child of Google Translate screamed from its pages. The
translations were such a jumbled nonsensical
mess that it was beyond comedic; it was
farcical.
Here they were, making a menu with English
translations to accommodate their foreign
customers but were too proud to a) ask any of
them to give it a once over b) get a pro
translator c) get ANYONE they might know that
knows even a little English to fix it up. Hell, most
of their custeez were English teachers who
might’ve done it for free. So, here is where the
three adversaries meet; inability to speak a
language, avoidance to interact with a native speaker two inches away from you and (easy out) Google Translate. I don’t like to belittle anyone who makes an effort in a foreign
language, because that takes courage. That being the case, defaulting to Google Translate instead of actually trying could be deemed a form of cowardice… and that menu was properly
ridiculed.

Incidentally my mother in law was intent on buying translation software before I forced her to read their reviews on Amazon Japan… you can really find some expensive translating software out there if you look. Apparently it’s all garbage though. Some of the software is identical to what is used on Google/Yahoo/etc. They just repackage it and sell it at a high price, which appears to spark enough interest to get poor people to buy them. Until they make a program that somehow learns a language through absorption, they will never get it close right, let alone natural.