Thank you for sharing your story. It’s inspiring to hear that. I’m bilingual too, English/Spanish, and I have also noticed the struggles with technology that does not come in people’s native language, even when they have some knowledge of that other language.

I know you have done a lot of work on translation. Do you think that aside from translating or thinking of English as a universal language, we may have another universal language: technological symbols? Is it possible that these symbols are much easier to learn and could make products more accessible even if translations are unavailable? 

People may not know the word play, but they recognize the “play” button, or download, send, camera, even emojis. (with some cultural nuances) 

 Nothing beats having translations available, but it doesn’t hurt to use symbols. Like you said, symbols are culturally nuanced, so some may not be universally understood.