Traveling in China, I spoke the universal language of app Landing late at night in Shenzhen for my first trip to China, I was nervous about being able to navigate the city. I didn’t speak the language and had never been to Asia. Starting the next day I would have the services of a local translator, but for that first night, I was on my own. Normally I use Google services for everything , but those are blocked in China. I opened my iPhone, connected to an international Mifi, and tapped the Uber app. The interface alerted me that I would be switching to the Chinese version, controlled now by Uber’s rival turned business partner Didi. The black screen turned a deep shade of red, and just like that, I had hailed a cab. MY CHAT APP ALSO PROVIDED INSTANTANEOUS TRANSLATION I used Apple Maps to locate the apartment we had reserved through AirBnB. Then I found the same spot on the map in Uber, which automatically translated the location into Chinese. I showed that to the driver
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