It has been over 12 long years since Google introduced the much needed translation service. Ever since, Google translate has become one of the most searched and used feature Google has to offer with the ability to translate over 100 languages. It has over 500 million searches everyday which gives you an idea of how useful it is.
Today, over 60 percent Google searches are done using mobile phones which makes sense since over 50 percent of traffic is from mobile phones connected to the internet. As a consequence to this, the mobile app for Google translate was not behind to make things easier on top of the feature being incredibly great already. Smartphones get smarter everyday so Google translate is always a step ahead and keeps up with the innovations by introducing its own.
Plus, the application is free with over 250 million people worldwide dependent on it especially when visiting foreign countries. However, stats show that most users do not know about most of the features the app has to offer so we’re here to show you the true power of Google translate.
Smartphone Camera to Translate
Imagine being in a French restaurant and not knowing what to order just because you cannot read French. Just take out your smartphone and point to the menu and watch the magic. Your camera can easily translate text on Street signs, billboards, and even handwriting. You can even translate it live if the text is in roman alphabets however, you’ll need to take a snap for Chinese or Arabic. Still pretty cool!
Speak to Translate
All phones have a microphone and speakers so users can easily talk directly in Google translate which will swiftly start. When talking to locals, you can ask them to speak into it and vice versa to have effective communication. Sure, Google Pixel buds are out there now, but it’s not a gadget that is commonly used to people prefer to stick to their smartphones. Sure, it feels like an interview, but it’s great especially when you’re on the move and you need to ask around. You can simply record your message asking for directions.
Offline Translate
Good cellular or internet connection is big question mark when travelling or in another country. You can’t always rely on the internet to translate on the move. However, you can download a whole language of the country you are travelling and before you go. However, you cannot use the voice translation feature so you’ll just have to stick to your camera or have your translation read to you.
Google Conversation
Why not plan out your conversation before you have it? The Google phrasebook feature enables you to save phrases which you’ll use when speaking to people in different languages. The interface packs tools like talk mode which you can access by tapping the microphone icon. Moreover, it offers a more natural experience especially with the option to listen to two languages rather than one. The phrase book is also easy to organize so you can see your phrases assigned to different selectable languages.
Google Translate Innovation in 2018: Say Goodbye to Literal Translations
As of 2018, Google has integrated offline downloads into AI translator. We were previously accustomed to offline dictionary on the go but innovations are inevitable. Users observed and pointed out that literal translation doesn’t grab the variations or nuances of foreign languages. Surprisingly, the case isn’t different even for common languages like Spanish or French. So you can imagine how inaccurate the translations were in Chinese or Arabic.
The offline AI translations will be available in 59 languages to start with a volume of 35 MB per language. Older phones would also support the update as Google wants maximum exposure and expansion of the innovation. In June, 2018, Google launched the update and now we can get better translations.
Here’s a full list of the 59 available languages in a non-sequential order: Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jannada, Korean, Lavtian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Maltese, Marathi, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Welsh, Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Belarusian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic,
