By British politician James Bryce once said, “Communication is the key to education, understanding, and peace.” It makes sense. If your school can’t effectively communicate with your students or their parents, how can you hope to educate? For many schools at all levels, translation software has become an essential education tool.
Find out why translation software for schools is necessary and its benefits both in and out of the classroom.
1. Translation Software Facilitates Clear Communication with Families
In the United States, the average student spends most of their day with English instruction. Even students learning English as an additional language are surrounded by English every day they go to school. English is the primary language within the school, but outside of the school’s walls, the situation might look quite different.
Another Language at Home
In the United States, 21.9% of the population speaks a foreign language at home. That means that in an average classroom of 26 students, around six students don’t speak English at home.
This creates a barrier whenever announcements, emails, or other communications are sent home. Basic communiqués many families take for granted—like when picture day or tryouts for a sports team will take place—get lost. While it is not essential for a parent to know when the next assembly is, the language gap can quickly create a divide between those families who speak English fluently and those who do not.
Missed Information
That social divide between students is dangerous for any school community, but the communication problem only becomes magnified when it comes to essential and sensitive information. If parents are unable to understand communication about their student’s success in classes or where they can improve—including topics like missing work, skipped days of school, or behavioral issues—that can lead to even further scholastic problems.
A solid line of communication between the school and the family is essential for the success and development of each student. Translation software for schools can help build that connection between the classroom and home.
Translation software removes the burden of children having to translate for their parents and makes sure that essential information is shared with the family in a language they easily understand. Information communicated in a person’s native language is always best understood.
2. Translation Software for Schools Provides Academic Equity
The necessity of education translation services does not end in high school. Colleges and universities also need access to accurate translation software to ensure academic equity.
The Growing Rate of Non-Native English Speakers
On average, 2.4% of college students speak English as a second language (ESL). For some schools, especially those with open enrollment or that cater to international students, the number of non-native English speakers becomes significantly higher, with some estimates that one in four students will be English language learners (ELL) by 2025.
In college, a student is responsible for their own success. The difference between success and failure for some classes comes down to understanding important information on:
- Announcements
- Class syllabi
- Emails
- Assignment rubrics
Communicating Via the Syllabus
A course syllabus is a contract between the student and the university. It outlines:
- How the professor measures success
- Department-wide expectations
- Essential readings
- Due dates for major projects and papers
A student who only partially understands a syllabus only partially understands what is expected and is at a disadvantage compared to other students before the course even begins.
Translation software is essential for all universities so their ESL and ELL student population has the support they need to understand and succeed in their courses.
3. Schools Need Accurate Translation Software
Whether you represent a grade school sharing information about a student show-and-tell or a graduate program outlining the requirements for defending a dissertation, schools need to use high-quality translation software that consistently provides accurate translations.
The Problem with Substitution
Non-professional translation programs utilize a substitution algorithm. This means that for each word, there is one (and only one) word used to replace it in the target language. For example, if the school needs to translate “hello,” the program instantly substitutes it with “bonjour” or “hola.”
This form of translation is better than nothing, but the product will be full of errors. This software cannot translate unfamiliar words that aren’t in its database and is almost useless when dealing with languages that have different sentence structures and grammar.
For example, in Korean, the basic structure of a sentence is different from English. This means substitution translation creates sentences like “She the cat sees,” or “I pizza eat.”
Choose SYSTRAN’s TranslatePro for Academia
Translate PRO for Academia provides a better solution built to serve educational institutions. Utilizing artificial intelligence paired with machine learning, SYSTRAN is the most accurate machine translation software for schools on the market. Contact us today for more information about Translate PRO, or try it for free for 14 days.
