Is language learning really necessary at this point?
Language barriers are fading faster than ever. Real-time AI tools in an AI era offer seamless, instant translation, replacing the time, money, and effort it takes to learn a new language. English, now officially designated as the national language of the U.S. — a historic first at the federal level — continues to remain its dominant global position, spoken in 75 countries by roughly 1.35 billion people. The need to learn a new language seems, well, more obsolete.
My language learning journey began at three, wobbling through “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in an English kindergarten in Korea. My father often said, "If you speak English, you can communicate with the entire world." By the age of 9, after moving to a small village in Pennsylvania, I had grasped English as my 1.5 language — not quite my first, but certainly more than just my second. Later, attending middle school in Canada also meant learning French as an official second language, and being multilingual just naturally became a part of my identity.
During my sophomore year in college, I decided to take a fresh start with Mandarin Chinese through an intensive three-week course, focusing on memorizing vocabulary rather than grammar. When the course was over, I still didn't feel confident enough to speak with my native friends. So, I flew straight to Beijing for a summer exchange program at Peking University — one of the world's top institutions — firmly believing that immersing myself in the culture, city, and people would help me pick up Chinese naturally faster, just as I had before.
But learning a new language in my early 20s in the 21st century turned out to be nothing like I expected.
My classes were fully taught in English, all my classmates spoke flawless English, and the only times I spoke Mandarin were when ordering food or having random talks about the weather with taxi drivers. Unlike when I first learned English and French, there were no practical barriers to overcome. Thanks to translation apps like Papago, every interaction was effortless, and suddenly, for the first time, learning a new language started to feel almost useless.
Being multilingual is undeniably an advantage.
A survey from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) found that nearly half of American adults wish they had taken more language courses in school, and employers increasingly value bilingual candidates. Yet, foreign language programs in U.S. colleges are disappearing — 651 programs were cut between 2013 and 2016, and enrollment in non-English language courses has dropped by 29.3% since 2009.
However, Korean was an exception.
According to the Modern Language Association, enrollment in Korean language courses has increased by 38% nationwide. Thanks to K-pop and K-dramas, Korean marked the only language course at UW to see an increase in enrollment over the past decade. This means that more students are learning Korean not entirely for academic or career reasons but simply out of pure passion, curiosity, and love of interest for the culture.
Professor Eun-young Wonfrom the department of Asian languages & literature sees immersion and AI as an integral part of the future of language learning. Apps like Duolingo, Memrise, and ChatGPT offer personalized, adaptive learning experiences with real-time feedback to students, and AI translation tools like Google Translate make content more accessible, letting students fully engage with foreign media content like never before. But she also warns against overreliance on AI.
"Korean, for example, has an intricate system of speech styles," Wons said, "Where choosing the appropriate sentence endings or connectives is essential to conveying the intended meaning in the right context. If students rely too heavily on AI, they risk misusing sentence conjunctions or endings, or overlooking important cultural subtleties, resulting in speech that sounds mechanical and lacks creativity or life."
At UW, Won has been encouraging students to embrace AI as a tool to supplement their language learning. Yet, she has noticed that some second and third-year students using AI often present and submit writing that feels overly formal, awkward or grammatically off due to AI's limited capacity to fully grasp the context and nuance.
Similarly, Yong Wook Lee, director of the Seattle Office of Korean Education, sees AI playing an increasingly important role in education and language learning. He envisions a future where AI assists students to learn at their own pace, with tailored guidance supplementing conventional approaches, making the learning process a more imaginative, innovative, fascinating, and universally accessible experience. However, he pointed out that early language exposure is key and that AI should remain a tool, an enhancement, not a replacement for immersive experiences. Whether through online classes, study abroad programs, student clubs, cultural events, or simply taking every opportunity to practice with friends and teachers, the experience remains irreplaceable.
This brings me to my point: While AI can translate words, it can never interpret the world.
At the heart of human connection is language, shaping our relationships, cultures, and how we perceive the world. To truly understand a language means more than just knowing its definitions. Just as when you interact with your crush, you tend to naturally pay closer attention to their tone, humor, body language, and subtle expressions, immersing yourself in the present moment. Learning a new language is the same. It all begins with immersing yourself in the experience, driven by genuine curiosity and interest.
"While there's no one-size-fits-all solution to mastering a language, immersion is key to progress," Won said. "The more you engage with authentic content — whether it's watching K-dramas, listening to K-pop, reading simple Korean books or articles; attending local cultural events or learning Taekwondo; or even visiting a Korean store where you hear the language in use — the more naturally you'll absorb the sounds, vocabulary, and sentence structures."
According to professor Izumi Matsuda-Kiami, a Japanese teaching professor at the department of Asian languages & literature, the Japanese enrollment has decreased in recent years — perhaps as students don’t find language learning as crucial with AI being widely used. Those who take Japanese are less likely to do so for an easy grade or career purpose, as it’s far more challenging to learn than European languages that share the same alphabets and cognets like Spanish or French. Thus, in her lectures, she supports students to thoroughly immerse themselves in J-dramas, movies, anime, or manga based on their interests.
For example, when she showed the first episode of Samurai Gourmet to her third-year class during a chapter on Japanese food, Matsuda-Kiami found it incredibly rewarding and fulfilling to see her language and culture being shared with motivated students, forming a lasting connection to Japan at UW.
So, is learning a new language still necessary? Perhaps not for survival.
But for those who crave to see the world through a different lens, to experience genuine connections with people, and to embrace the richness of human philosophy and the world we live in, it is something AI can never replace; learning a new language will always be worth it.
