[makeitdouble]

People present these as the choice between 0 (“locked out”) and 1.

In real world instances (the proverbial 80%), it’s more often transforming a 0.4 (“don’t know much english”) into a 0.7. And the people who get away with near 0 knowledge will usually have no critical need for translation, or an access to other means (an actual translator, social help etc.) when really needed.

My mental image is grandmas reading online news, and machine translation would be a blessing and a curse. Or low grade school kids trying to look for some help on a topic, and a I’d wish they get more time with the original text to at least somewhat learn, than only getting the rough translation full of errors.

For interpersonal communication, people adjust, that’s what has been happening for centuries now.