{"id":7005,"date":"2022-02-28T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T14:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=7005"},"modified":"2025-08-23T17:14:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:14:47","slug":"pursuing-your-dreams-as-a-non-native-english-speaker-in-the-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2022\/02\/28\/pursuing-your-dreams-as-a-non-native-english-speaker-in-the-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Pursuing Your Dreams as a Non-Native English Speaker in the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How can artificial intelligence such as Google Translate help the average U.S. citizen or migrant? Google Translate has helped people such as Etan and Ed Santiago, 21 and 25, of Monterrey, Mexico, who moved to the U.S. Etan works as a graphic design artist.\u00a0 Ed works at a call center for a Walmart pharmacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Etan Santiago uses Google Translate for his brother Ed while he makes a phone call.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was May 2019. The airport in Monterrey was full of oppressive humidity that covered the mountainous terrain around northern Mexico. The atmosphere enhanced Etan\u2019s anxiety. He was a young man initiating a move to the U.S. with his family. This include his brother Ed. The plane trip was underwhelming. Their arrival in Maine was a case of culture shock. They arrived in Bangor, which is much smaller than their hometown. Santiago was used to working with clients from abroad with Google Translate. He never used it face-to-face. He had to ask a woman for directions in the airport. He pulled out his phone to help him remember a word. This was Santiago\u2019s first interaction in the U.S.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Google Translate first went live in 2006. The app has become the most used multilingual translation\/interpretation AI worldwide. Communication can sometimes be difficult in a multicultural country such as the U.S. Interpreters are not always available outside of government establishments. Google Translate cannot replace human interpretation. It can provide a bridge to the gap among people who speak different languages. It is a fast and easy way to communicate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBefore moving here, I didn\u2019t realize how difficult it would be to have daily interactions with people. I didn\u2019t realize how often I asked for help in the street or the grocery store or just brought up conversations with people in Mexico. I can speak English to a certain point. But my accent is heavy and I get nervous,\u201d Etan said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Santiago has taken English classes since he was young. Speaking with native English speakers is overwhelming. His father does not speak English at all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI can make a phone call with the government and press one for Espa\u00f1ol. What I can\u2019t do is speak to people in the streets. Or ask for an item at the grocery store if I have no idea what it is called in English. All of us have a tiny interpreter in our pockets. And it usually gets the point across.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Google Translate has more than text and voice interpretation services. It also translates pictures with writing on them. Let\u2019s say, for example, you are in Mexico and you want to know what a sign says. You can take a picture of it and you have an instant translation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhen we first got here, I never wanted to talk to anyone who didn\u2019t look Hispanic,\u201d Ed said. \u201cIt was scary when even people who looked like me didn\u2019t speak Spanish.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI know people who were seeking asylum from other Latin American countries. They used WhatsApp and had their families send them documents there. They also used Google Translate to speak with border patrol. Border patrol uses it too. It\u2019s very useful in a lot of situations,\u201d Etan said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People migrate to the U.S. for plenty of reasons. The most common is to find better opportunities. This is something we all want. Language barriers can make things difficult.\u00a0 Government institutions provide interpretation services. Those do not exist in our daily lives. Google Translate and other AI assist non-native English speakers who need to ask for directions or for help. AI can also help if they just want to talk with the local people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How can artificial intelligence such as Google Translate help the average U.S. citizen or migrant? Google Translate has helped people such as Etan and Ed Santiago, 21 and 25, of Monterrey, Mexico, who moved to the U.S. Etan works as a graphic design artist.\u00a0 Ed works at a call center for a Walmart pharmacy. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8194,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7005\/revisions\/8194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}