The Language of Money

Google may be developing the next global platform

“The company says the service now translates 143 billion words a day and saw a boost in use during the World Cup.”

Every ten years, a new digital platform becomes the internet’s interface.

Google was keyword search. Facebook was social discovery. Instagram and Snap are photo and video sharing.

Language, in the form of Google Translate, could be the next global platform.

Imagine a scenario where people — strangers or long-lost family members, friends and foes — were no longer constrained by their ability to communicate across languages seamlessly.

Imagine a solution for every time you travel abroad, get lost on vacation, or end up in a compromised situation.

Imagine how much knowledge lives behind the locked doors of language.

Imagine a language solution for disaster response — when, at the moment of maximum chaos, language becomes a safety lubricant rather than sand in the operational gears.

Language is one of the few things that connects people at a deep level. The more accessible it is, the more we can learn from each other.

We need more of that, especially now.