Couple in Love Uses Translation App to Bridge Languages

When David Duda tells a joke, he waits a few seconds before laughing so his wife Hong Liang has time to read the punchline on her phone screen.

Duda speaks only English, and Liang speaks only Mandarin. For the past five years, Microsoft's free Translator app has been their bridge, converting every conversation into text subtitles for daily life.

The couple met in Xian, China, in fall 2019 when Liang offered to show Duda around the city during his visit. By the end of the week, the bookstore owner from New Haven, Connecticut, was smitten with the joyful woman who would become his wife.

They stayed connected through WeChat, copying and pasting messages into translation apps. When the pandemic isolated them both, they started talking every day about their lives, their failed marriages, and their dreams for the future.

"We spent the next two years on our phones getting to know each other better," Duda said. In September 2022, Liang booked a one-way flight to America, and they married three months later.

Now 62 and 57, they walk arm in arm like newlyweds, partly from affection and partly from necessity. One person navigates while the other reads the translated conversation on their phone screen.

The technology requires eight external battery packs to keep their devices charged. If their phones die, so does their ability to communicate with words.

Sunny's Take

The couple can't shout conversations from the shower or half-listen while doing chores. Instead, they spend hours on the couch or in bed, going back and forth until they're sure they understand each other.

"The translator makes you have to be more in the moment because you've got to be reading it and listening," Duda explained. "You have to pay attention more, which obviously is a good thing when you're relating to your spouse."

Liang agrees that the attention to detail strengthens their bond. Through a human interpreter, she said Duda notices everything she needs and takes good care of her.

Experts acknowledge the translations aren't perfect, but the access they provide opens doors that would otherwise stay closed. "It's wonderful that people are able to communicate with a much wider range of people than they could before," said Lera Boroditsky, a cognitive science professor at UC San Diego.

Duda admits the setup would frustrate most people. "If people weren't in love, it would be much more frustrating," he said.

For this couple, technology hasn't created distance but intimacy, proving that when two people are committed to understanding each other, even a language barrier becomes just another challenge to overcome together.