Natural language processing (NLP) may sound lofty, but it's actually a technology that allows computers to understand and produce language-like language. To put it simply, it is to let the computer "understand" what we say, then "understand" what we mean, and finally "generate" language to respond to us.
For example, the voice assistant we use today is an NLP application. When we talk to our phone, the voice assistant on the phone can "understand" what we mean and respond accordingly. It is not only about translating speech into words, but also about understanding the meaning of those words, and then responding to us with words.
For example, machine translation is also an application of NLP. Let's say you want to learn Xi English, but you have a friend who doesn't know English. You can use machine translation to translate English articles into Chinese and then let your friends read them. This way, your friend will be able to understand the meaning of the English article. This is how machine translation works, which translates one language into another so that people can understand each other.
So, NLP is actually the technology that enables computers to understand and generate language just like humans. Although the technology of NLP is not very perfect at present, with the development of science and technology, it is believed that more applications will appear in the future.