He wanted to communicate better with his parents in Chinese, so this Toronto man created an app to help
CBC
Growing up with parents who didn't speak the same first language as he did, Joshua Gao often longed for a way to communicate with his mom and dad on a deeper level.
Now, the 24-year-old tech entrepreneur has developed an app that he says could help others in his position bridge the gap.
"I always had this instinctual connection with them," Gao said of his parents.
"But anytime there is a heated debate or we're talking about something important, I just have a lack of words and that's an awful feeling."
So, Gao got a few of his friends together at the end of March and started looking into possibilities for an app. A first version of the app was created within a weekend, and continue to work on improvements.
"We wanted to test it and see what was possible with the tech that exists right now. We realized that translation has gotten really good," Gao said.
Together, they came up with Binko Chat — a free translation chat app that uses artificial intelligence to translate messages in dozens of languages — including Chinese.
Gao says unlike many other translation apps, Binko Chat uses AI for contextual translation. That means rather than relying on word-for-word translation, it can accurately translate slang and idioms.
"A lot of Gen-Z terms, things you'd see on Tiktok like 'that's cap', or 'he's got rizz' — things like that, are translated in a natural tone," Gao explained.
Since the app was launched at the beginning of April, Gao says it has been downloaded more than 10,000 times.
He says they've also received feedback from doctors who have used it to help communicate with patients, as well as people who are dating someone who speaks a different language.
"Hopefully we continue to hear more incredible stories like people talking to their parents or finding love over the app," he said.
Ishtiaque Ahmed, an assistant professor in the department of computer science at the University of Toronto says he is currently researching intergenerational relationships within immigrant groups and how technology is changing that dynamic.
While he says learning the language would be the most ideal way to connect, he believes technology like Gao's can help relieve some of the tension older generations are feeling around their children being detached.
At a Tim Hortons in downtown Hamilton, drivers intent on getting their morning double doubles brave the murky waters of the parking lot, as sloshing waves reach as high as their car bumpers.
Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia can all expect between 20 and 40 millimetres of rainfall this weekend.
More Alberta seniors are now eligible for a provincially funded RSV vaccine.
More than 100 workers at a steel plant in eastern Ontario are being laid off either temporarily or permanently, as a company with facilities in Quebec and Ontario cuts its workforce due to challenging market conditions — including U.S. tariffs.
A small town northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., has become the unlikely home for hundreds of foreign workers, but many may have to leave the community they've embraced after the end of a federal program put in place to fill gaps in Canada's labour market.
There's mixed reaction in Waterloo to an injuction allowing police to detain, arrest and charge anyone who is participating in unsanctioned street parties in that city this weekend.
Diabetes Canada is excited about Prince Edward Island's new pharmacare deal with the federal government, but hopes the province will reevaluate copays on diabetes supplies, says a senior manager with the organization.
After 26 years of accommodating guests from across the world, Faith Embleton says she and her husband Ken are ready to sell their bed and breakfast.
A group of big-name companies including Google, Meta and Dow have signed a pledge to support tripling the world's nuclear energy capacity by 2050, a signal of the technology's growing resurgence in popularity.
Five years on, Toronto-area doctors and public health officials are looking back at what they've learned since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — and most agree the early experience will prove useful if the city faces another infectious disease crisis.
City staff would like Londoners to take a good look around their home and ask themselves a direct and possibly difficult question: Could everyone in your family survive at home, without leaving and with no other help, for a full 72 hours?
Liberal Leader Mark Carney will officially become Canada's next prime minister within a few hours, taking the reins as the country barrels toward a general election and continues to fend off verbal and economic attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Recent cyberattacks in Newfoundland and Labrador should have been a wake up call for the federal government about the reality of an increasingly hostile world, says one cybersecurity expert.