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Google Translate: Schoolgirl from California Breaks the Language Barrier with a New Mexican Classmate

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Amanda Moore, a 10 year old school girl from Temecula, California believed that language should not get in the way of making new friends as she used Google Translate to invite a classmate for lunch.

Rafael Anaya, who is also 10 years old, had a difficult time making new friends at Paloma Elementary School because he just recently moved from Mexico and did not speak much English. One day, Amanda noticed that Rafael was eating alone when she noticed that he didn't have much friends because of language barrier. That was when Amanda used Google Translate to communicate with Rafael in Spanish and asked him if he wanted to join her for lunch.

Amanda didn't also know how to speak Spanish but was eager to make friends with Rafael, thus the letter of invitation for him. The letter read "Would you like to sit with me today? Look for me and I will show you where I sit. We can color or simply tell scary stories. Thank you for your time."

Amanda's mother, Kimber Kinard, proofread the note before Amanda handed it to Rafael, and said that the two became very close friends and they have been spending lunch together since then. Kinard also shared a video of Amanda reading the letter out loud on Facebook where it was shared and viewed more than 319,000 times.

"I've personally received 1,600 personal Facebook messages from people all across the world just saying gracias and it doesn't take a translator to know what that means," Kinard said.

According to ABC 7, Rafael shared how happy he was with the first ever letter he received and said that he knew that Amanda would be his friend forever.

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