Translation applications for language learning / Tuan Sarifah Aini Syed Ahmad

Learning a second or third language may be challenging, especially for students with poor proficiency in the target language. They may lack the vocabulary to express their ideas. Therefore, they may struggle to find suitable words to express their ideas since they may think of the idea in their first language. Then, they need to translate their idea into the target language. After that, the next struggle is to make sure that the sentences in the language do not have any grammatical errors in terms of tenses, subjectverb agreement, choice of word, spelling and punctuation. However, students in the 21st century have the advantage of improving their language skills by using certain translation apps. Translation apps are online tools which apply artificial intelligence to translate the meaning of spoken or written language. The translation is a complex process as a text cannot be translated word by word to consider the context. Fortunately, many translation apps can perform translation according to the context where the words are used. This is due to the fact that the apps use natural language processing (NLP). NLP is a subfield of artificial intelligence, computer science, and linguistics that enable computers or applications to understand text and speech in human communication.