Their Secret to a Happy Marriage? A Translation App

David Duda and Hong Liang live in New Haven and speak different languages — he speaks English; she speaks Mandarin. They rely on Microsoft’s free Translator app to turn their speech into readable text and keep eight external battery packs on hand so their phones do not run out of power.

If a phone dies, so does their ability to communicate. The app produces subtitles for daily life, and using it shapes how they interact. Though married three years, they often walk with their arms linked while one person speaks and the other reads. Conversations demand attention: they cannot half-listen or walk away, and when they want to be sure they understand each other they spend hours on the couch or in bed, trading messages back and forth.

“The translator makes you have to be more in the moment because you’ve got to be reading it and listening,” Mr. Duda said. They met in Xi’an in the fall of 2019 and kept in touch via WeChat after Mr. Duda returned to New Haven, where he owns a bookstore.

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