Well.. with AI, or whatever good statistical translation tool you use, it's possible to have a one-to-one conversation, kind of. A Japanese friend (not young, speaks only Japanese) stayed for quite a while in northern Europe and communicated with their host via a hand-held translator. It worked out well enough, they're still in contact long after.
But you can't be part of a group of more than two people and do that. You can't inject your opinion about something in real time when the chatter is going on. You can't even get a translation in your ear about what people are saying, as while you're waiting for the translator to start translating (with Japanese the verb, and thus the action, comes last..) the next person is already talking.
There'll never be a Star Trek universal translator. And today's AI doesn't understand context enough to handle pronouns and gender when translating between languages which don't have them, or handles them differently.
But you can't be part of a group of more than two people and do that. You can't inject your opinion about something in real time when the chatter is going on. You can't even get a translation in your ear about what people are saying, as while you're waiting for the translator to start translating (with Japanese the verb, and thus the action, comes last..) the next person is already talking.
There'll never be a Star Trek universal translator. And today's AI doesn't understand context enough to handle pronouns and gender when translating between languages which don't have them, or handles them differently.