Another phone question

Barbara,

Yes, accessing Google Translate via the cellular network will use data, but I don't know how much. One question though - if you already have a phone with AT&T, why are you buying another phone in Spain? Travelling with your home phone with a roaming plan may also be a cost effective solution.

Unlikely Ken.... most visitors coming from your shores are charged outrageously by your telecomms companies when roaming in Europe. For info, you can get a cheap SIM card from one of the many low cost companies -most of which are simply second brands from the major actors- for very few euros.

Examples:
https://www.tuenti.com/movil
http://www.yoigo.com/tarifas/tarifas-de-tarjeta/
https://www.lowi.es/tarifas-movil/

My advise is to head to a phone store when you arrive and ask there as tariffs are varying constantly -there's a commercial war going on among the major companies- so you can be advised which is the best option for you.

Enjoy!

Sprint has a great program for international travel. I have them as a carrier and used my phone in Spain last year (the first year the plan existed). I noticed no increase to my normal monthly bill. I think T-Mobile also has pretty travel-friendly rates. Alternatively, a few years ago I bought a sim card in Spain. I think it cost about 20 euros and had 1 gig of internet. I used it in my unlocked iphone. Good luck. There's plenty of information on these boards about sim cards.

Have AT&T unlock your phone and buy a local SIM card when you arrive in Spain. No need to purchase another phone since AT&T uses GSM technology. Price of card should be in the 10€-20€ range. Just choose one with decent amount (1 gig or more) of data. Though not a techie, I don't believe either translator or maps will eat up a lot of data. Used T-Mobile in Spain and Portugal a few years back as translator, GPS, and walking maps. Had a half gig of data and came nowhere near the limit.

Ah yes, and have mentioned something important: in order to use a SIM card other than your AT&T you need to make sure your phone is unlocked, otherwise it won't work. To find out whether it's locked or not try to use a SIM card from another provider (maybe a friend's or a colleague's SIM card back there at home in California) and if it does recognize it it means it's unlocked. If it's not, you need to contact your provider BEFORE travelling so they can unlock your phone. It is (supposed!) to be a simple procedure that can be done over the phone although some companies with bad practices do make it 'difficult' in order for you to continue tied to "their" schemes -normally more expensive than the local SIM card solution. Also notice they might refuse to unlock it if you're under an ongoing permanence contract.

You can add an app to your phone that doesn't use data. I used an app that was helpful but far from perfect. Colloquial language in every part of Spain isn't classic Castillian Spanish. It still helped somewhat.

Actually there are 5 distinct languages spoken other than Spanish, nothing to do with "colloquialism" I am afraid.