Jackie Newman

With AirPods’ new Live Translation feature, the microphones can listen to conversation and project translated phrases directly to a listener.

Language translation hasn’t always been easy. Human interpreters and dictionaries used to be essential. Now, the tools are at your fingertips.

Apple released Live Translation, a new feature alongside iOS 26 and the AirPods Pro 3 on Sept. 19. Designed to help users communicate easier across language barriers, the feature allows AirPods to translate spoken language in real time directly into the wearer’s preferred language.

According to Apple, users can simply listen as someone speaks and hear an immediate translation through their AirPods—even if the other person isn’t using any Apple device. When speaking back, users can use the iPhone’s Translate app to display or play their translated response aloud.

The feature has a handful of supported languages, including English, Spanish (Spain), French, German, and Brazilian Portuguese, with more coming later this year.

Yet Creek teachers work to help students learn these languages without technology to help. How do they feel about a feature like this?

“Translation tools aren’t inherently harmful, but they can limit learning when used as a shortcut,” French and Spanish teacher Jenn Polland said. “Translation services struggle with nuance, tone, cultural context, slang, humor, and real time conversation flow. Human communication is more than literal meaning, it’s connection.”

Spanish teacher Jose Murillo thinks that learning and translating serve completely different purposes.

“[They] should not be used in the classroom when trying to learn a new concept if the teacher is not encouraging them,” Murillo said. “This will get in the way of furthering the skills that instructors are trying to teach students.”

Because of this difference between machinery and education, Jenn Polland isn’t worried about features like this.

“Instant translation features are impressive, but they’re not replacements for true language proficiency,” she said. “Technology can support communication, but it can’t fully replicate the richness of speaking a language yourself.”

One of Polland’s French 3/4 Honors students, sophomore Zihe Chen, is already bilingual; she grew up speaking Mandarin at home. She understands the value of fluency in a second language.

“At some point, translation tools become a crutch that people use in replacement of truly learning a language, so it’s understandable why language classes want to limit their use,” Chen said. “Even if I used this feature every day to decode things my grandparents say to me, it would not be as meaningful as being able to talk with them one on one without the use of any devices.”

Polland’s stance on the feature is the root of why language classes at Creek and beyond don’t allow Google Translate, which can translate whole sentences. Instead, they allow the use of sites like WordReference or dictionaries, which translate word-by-word to assist with simple vocab.

“Google Translate doesn’t help students learn, it helps them complete a task without doing the thinking,” she said. “It often produces errors that don’t match what students have learned, and it skips the process that actually builds proficiency.”

Even further, Murillo considers it a form of cheating.

“The goal of an assignment is typically to encourage students to navigate through the language using the vocabulary and grammar they have learned, which is essential for memory retention and to develop skills,” he said. “Using Google Translate to complete an assignment is a form of academic dishonesty.”

Despite this, Polland absolutely sees helpful applications, from her daily work to international travel.

“Tools like AirPods translation can be wonderful for travelers, for quick communication in emergencies, and for helping newcomers navigate unfamiliar environments,” she said. “In the classroom, they can assist students with language barriers or support multilingual families.”