Communicating with Google Translate

no most here have managed traveling the world without aps
how do u make small talk looking at a phone?

Well, there's the guy on the "90 Day Fiancee" show who went all the way to Brazil (and up the Amazon) to talk to his new girlfriend via translation app. But maybe you need more of a connection than small talk with a waiter.

Never a substitute for learning a few words. Too many misunderstandings can happen with the apps.

My husband and our Italian portiere used to make small talk each in his own language (neither spoke the other's language) with lots of gestures and miming. It worked for them.

there is a classic google translation error of a menu of a place I visit in Prague.
several dishes have beef (hovezi) sauce seen on the menu abbreviated as hov. ,which google has translated as Poo sauce using the word hovno which means sh*t in Czech.
never ever trust an automated translation system

In St. Petersburg last year, the breakfast server seemed to know only two words of English: "coffee" and "tea." I wanted neither. I wanted orange juice. But she had no idea what I was asking for, and I knew no words of Russian.

So I brought out the phone with Google Translate and asked for orange juice, and it spoke it in Russian to her. She brought me orange juice, so I guess it worked!

I wouldn't expect to use Google Translate to have a conversation, but clearly it can be useful in some cases to communicate.

I found Google translate rather valuable for learning words and phrases, as well as learning pronunciation. It certainly helped me go grocery shopping in Albert Heijn stores all in Dutch.

ok it is like an e-book

Google translate is loaded with misunderstandings. If you want to translate a noun, it fits the bill. Otherwise, forget it.

Google Translate is fine for getting an approximation, but not always accurate and sometimes completely wrong. It's not really practical for a conversation, and the locals won't appreciate having a gadget shoved under their snout to communicate.

It would be ice to have the functionality of the Star Trek universal translator, but we're not there yet.

On this last trip this summer, I saw this scene while riding on a city bus, ca 90% empty, in Meaux, France that was going "way out there from the centre ville." The bus stops at a bus stop, one of two waiting Asian girls gets on, shows the driver her iPhone, just about sticks it in his face, says nothing the whole time, whereupon, he driver, also saying nothing, abruptly waves his hand, ie, get off the bus.

The girl promptly gets off, both of them had this totally puzzled look as they looked at each and the iPhone. Obviously, with that iPhone or Google Translator they got nowhere, or the bus driver did not want to be bothered.

I don't use Google Translate at all, never bothered with it. .