Linguistics, the study of language and its structure, must continually redefine its boundaries during this time of increasingly complex communications. In its simplest form, language is a grouping of sounds or gestures that a community of members agree upon, without agreement, the sounds and gestures are meaningless. Let’s explore what the future holds for language in a digital age where that community becomes more diverse and complex, and what that means for businesses trying to stay ahead of the curve.
Emoji Take Over
When we speak to one another we often use our hands, facial expressions and other body language to enhance the words we are exchanging; this is what makes language multi-modal. Before the days of emojis, we could only use punctuation to enhance the true meaning behind written words, which isn’t fully indicative of our words’ true meaning. Instead of, “Thanks so much! See you later!” we can now say
Thanks See ya Some of those more fluent in emojis can use them to replace entire words or sentences, “Thanks so much! See you later!” could actually just be
The use of emojis is so rampant that its users may soon surpass those who speak English in the coming years. This is of course implying that emojis themselves are their own language. Some companies are preparing and are even hiring individuals to be their emoji translators as the same emoji can mean very different things across different cultures. The use of emojis is important to businesses because their use can be even more indicative of how their customers feel about them than words alone. This means businesses must adapt by scouring customer reviews, largely on social media, to understand how to improve. Emojis might just be the newest and easiest language to learn. If you are more interested in how emojis may actually become a structured, complex, and globally accepted language you can read more from this BBC article.
Talking to Artificial Intelligence
It is quite likely that the last time you spoke to someone in customer service on an online platform, you were actually talking to a relatively sophisticated form of artificial intelligence. Jobs within customer service have seen an increasing risk for replacement by machines as AI allows organizations to effectively address the concerns and questions of thousands of customers without paying anyone. This is the age of the chatbot, the AI program for customer support, a hot topic for the last few years in Silicon Valley and now the rest of the world.
The volume and complexity of conversations we each have with AI is increasing and we may not even know it. Virtual assistants like Alexa learn from past conversations you may have had with them, leveraging their AI to tailor your experience. In the future, the conversations we have with these virtual assistants and chatbots will be much less rudimentary and could involve an array of emotion or thoughts expressed by the AI. What this will mean for the way we treat machines is unclear, but our relationship will undoubtedly become closer and far more uncertain. If you are interested in where we are today with conversational AI and how it works in more detail, read this TechCrunch article.
Breaking Language Barriers
When entering a foreign country, it can be intimidating to hear a new language and this barrier may be frustrating. However, this may soon be obsolete. With new language processing technology, I am able to speak into a device and have my words immediately translated into a multitude of languages. The other person in the conversation with me can do the same and in a relatively seamless experience we can communicate where we once could not. Devices today are limited in speed and do not always understand different uses of slang and dialect that make language often difficult for anyone to interpret perfectly. Here’s an example of one of those technologies today.
For quite a few years there has been a multitude of apps that have tried to help its user learn and study a new language. Some of these apps feature experts in the language, allow one-on-one tutoring and even statistics to show you just how close you are to proficiency in a language. In the future, it is likely that translation apps will be largely replaced by wearables that will be entirely in real-time, meaning that the person hearing my English may not even hear a single English word, but rather my words immediately translated into their native tongue. Instead of noise canceling, these devices will be able to do noise isolation. This means that the conversation I am having with the person three feet in front of me will be the only thing I hear, even if I’m standing in a busy and noisy area. This type of technology is already being built out, although it does need dramatic improvement for me to be able to listen to a conversation happening across the room. This will make future eavesdropping wildly powerful and will become an increasing threat to our privacy. These technologies also have enormous implications for multinational businesses who will be able to ease communication channels between their offices in different countries.
Please leave a comment or string of emojis to let me know your thoughts about the changing landscape of modern linguistics and the implications it may have on digital business.