How real-time translation could transform travel – and what we might lose

Apple’s new live translation feature is a boon for travellers, but over-reliance on AI translation could make us rethink how, and why, we learn languages.

For nearly five decades, a comedy sci-fi novel has made readers wish they had a fish in their ear. In Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, characters could understand any language thanks to the petite (and sadly fictional) Babel fish. “If you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language,” Adams wrote.

Now that sci-fi dream is edging closer to reality with Apple’s new AirPods Pro 3, which promise live translation. According to the company, users can listen to conversations in a variety of foreign languages and hear translated words in their ears, while transcripts appear on their phone screen – all without the need for an alien fish transplant.

At face value, this has the potential to power a new era of friction-free travel, changing the way we navigate foreign restaurants, make friends abroad or ask for directions in an unfamiliar city. But will instant fluency come with hidden costs?

Profound but imperfect tech

The reaction from pundits has been suitably impressed. “This is profound,” said a review in the New York Times, calling Apple’s innovation “one of the strongest examples yet of how artificial intelligence can be used in a seamless, practical way to improve peoples’ lives”.

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But the technology is far from perfect right now, with one CNET technology finding the software occasionally inserted stray swear words. Such missteps are often the way with early tech models, however, and kinks can quickly be ironed out as the developer – and all the other brands who will now be working furiously on releasing similar tools – releases updates.

Still, even at this early stage, live translation in your pocket could encourage millions of people to travel more often, and more widely. A 2025 poll by Preply, a language course provider, found that one-third of Americans surveyed intentionally choose destinations where they won’t be troubled by a foreign language. Of those who do venture to non-English-speaking countries, nearly 25% say they have communicated by simply speaking “slower and louder”, which rarely leads to a warm reception. The poll also noted that 17% of respondents, fearing the labyrinth of a foreign menu, stick to American fast-food chains for meals overseas.

But instant translation could do more than help individuals by immersing them in new cultures and kickstarting conversations. It could rewire whole sectors of economies by pushing people beyond familiar chains and tourist traps, funnelling income to small local vendors whose English is imperfect.

Gracie Teh, a financial services executive, recalls struggling to forward her luggage to a new hotel when staying in a tiny town in Japan. Despite speaking no English, the concierge “refused to use Google Translate or read what we were typing into it”, Teh sighs, remembering several hours where she was unsure if she’d spend the next few days without any of her clothes. “Having the ability to understand him in real time via AirPod translation would have been a lifesaver.”