Since AI Can Translate Everything, Do We Still Need English?

This episode looks at a question raised by something encountered in a newsletter: now that AI can translate almost anything, is there still a reason to learn English?It touches on the genuine convenience of AI translation — foreign news, academic papers, supplier emails — and the real, undeniable good of removing barriers that once made whole categories of information unreachable.But it also sits with a different kind of wall. The moments that matter in business and travel often aren't formal meetings or written exchanges — they're dinners, trade show aisles, offhand comments on the way somewhere. There's a small but real difference between laughing at a joke in the moment and reaching for a translation app first.The shift the episode lands on is this: AI doesn't make English unnecessary — it means you no longer have to aim for perfect English. Let the tools handle the research and the careful writing. But looking someone in the eye and saying "let's meet again" in your own words still feels like something worth doing yourself.A quiet reflection on what fluency might mean now, and why the kind of English that matters going forward might be less about vocabulary and grammar, and more about just keeping the conversation going.