Last month, Apple unveiled its newest AirPods with a feature straight out of science fiction: slip them in, and they will translate a foreign language directly into your ears. The technology is remarkable. As Brian X. Chen noted in The New York Times, a conversation in Spanish became instantly comprehensible to him, despite his never having studied the language.

Such advances might suggest that the study of languages is becoming obsolete. After all, if an algorithm can render speech in real time, why should universities keep investing in language degrees? But the better machines get at translating words, the more essential human expertise becomes in understanding meaning. Far from being obsolete, language degrees are the very foundation for preparing graduates to use, guide and improve th

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