In an essay at the Atlantic, Louise Matsakis laments what appears to be a swift decline in the study of foreign languages in school. Enrollment in such courses is down a remarkable 29% since 2009 at American colleges, she notes, citing stats from the Modern Language Association. Similar declines are evident in other countries. Multiple factors are no doubt in play, but what’s not in dispute is that this is happening as automatic translation powered by artificial intelligence becomes the norm across the internet. “Within a few years, AI translation may become so commonplace and frictionless tha…