[solarmist]

I'd love to chat; even if it doesn't lead to anything, please shoot me an email.

Yes, translation is what all the tech is focused on but, it's really hard to make it useful for language learners. Because translating requires many more skills than just being bilingual. The most fundamental issue is that most native-sounding translations require being non-literal in many places.

[pejrich]

I agree. That’s why my focus is not on being native sounding but conveying meaning. If I say “I want to buy a seal.” The most native sounding translation that says “I want to buy a gasket” is useless if my meaning was “I want to buy a (marine animal).” Obviously that’s a blatant use of an ambiguous word but there’s a surprisingly large number of words we don’t think about as being ambiguous but translators can alter the meaning.