Translate — Teacher's Guide

The student has two text fields side by side — one in Norwegian and one in their own language. She types or speaks into one, and the text appears in the other, read aloud.

How it works

You can find it under Translate. Each field has its own language selector, and the list contains 56 languages. By default, one is set to Norwegian and the other to English; the student changes this themselves.

Using the keyboard: type in one field and click TRANSLATE. The translation appears in the field on the other side, and below it you will find Play, Copy, and Clear. Each field holds up to 5,000 characters, and the counter shows how much has been used.

Using voice: each field has a microphone button labeled with its language, for example, "Norwegian: start recording". The student clicks, speaks, and clicks again to stop. What she said appears in her own field, the translation in the other — and it is read aloud automatically. This is what makes the page practical to use between two people sitting at a table: one screen, one button each.

The log

The Translation Log can be expanded at the bottom. It shows each translation with a timestamp and a tag for Speech or Text, and each text box has a copy button. Copy all provides the entire session as plain text. The log belongs to the open session, so make sure to copy out what you want to save before leaving the page.

Who it is for

It is most useful in two situations: when someone needs to be understood immediately, and when the student wants to check a single word along the way. The first conversation with a new student, a message to parents, a form that needs explaining — here it solves a real problem, at all levels.

Now for the uncomfortable part. A translator inside a language app can easily become a crutch. A student who writes an entire assignment in their native language and pastes in the Norwegian version hasn't written Norwegian. A student who runs every single sentence of a reading text through the field isn't reading — she is waiting. This is not an argument for hiding the tool; students have translators on their phones anyway. It is an argument for clearly communicating your expectations: translate to move forward, not to cut corners.

Also note what the page does not do: it does not correct, and it does not explain. If the student needs to understand a word in context, the Dictionary and click-on-words feature in reading texts are better; if she needs feedback on her own Norwegian, Writing is the right place.

Suggestions for working with Translate

1. The introductory conversation. Place the screen between you, select the student's language in one field, and take turns using the microphone buttons. You get the answer read aloud in Norwegian, and she gets yours in her language. Ten minutes here is often worth more than half an hour of guessing.
2. One sentence at a time. Agree on a rule out loud in class: you can translate one word or one sentence, never the entire text. This turns the tool into a reading aid rather than a replacement for reading.
3. Reverse translation. The student writes her sentence in Norwegian, translates it into her native language, and reads the result. Did it mean what she intended? A self-check method that doesn't require the teacher.
4. Pronunciation with Play. Write a Norwegian sentence in the Norwegian field, click Play, and let the student repeat it as many times as she likes.
5. From log to word list. Click Copy all after a conversation, pick out eight to ten words that were used frequently, and add them to Word Lists. Then they will appear in the spaced repetition under Practice, where they will stick.

Good to know

• It does not replace an interpreter. Below the fields, you will find the line "AI translation – not an interpreter. May contain errors.", and Read more expands the rest: at the doctor's, at the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), at school, and with the police, the student is legally entitled to a free, qualified interpreter.
• Some languages are less accurate than others. If Dari, Kinyarwanda, Kurmanji, Nepali, Pashto, Somali, Sorani, or Tigrinya is selected, a notice appears above the fields stating that the translation may be inaccurate. Take this seriously, and have numbers, names, and dates confirmed by a person.
• The text is not stored by Språki. It is sent to an AI service to be translated and otherwise remains only in the browser's log. Still, avoid entering national identity numbers and health information.
• Time counts as tool usage, not learning time. In the student's progress tracking, Translate is categorized under tools. A student spending a lot of time there and very little on Reading and Practice is telling you something worth addressing.

See also

• The tools in Språki — the brief explanation that students see
• Is everything Språki generates correct? — where AI makes mistakes
• Sensitive information — what students should not enter