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Airpods and language translation

Posted by (USA) on

I'm not a techy person, so there might be something obvious I'm overlooking, but I'm wondering what people are thinking about this new translation feature on the Airpod3. I currently have first gen Airpods, so they don't have the ability to update to include the translation feature, which means if I want it, I'll have to buy a new set. I usually just use google translate if I need to speak more than the few words I memorize since I'm not having actual conversations when traveling. Then again, maybe I would engage more if I could easily understand.

I was disappointed to see that it will translate Brazilian Portuguese rather than European, but it will work with French, German and Spanish and by the end of the year it will include Italian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, which will be nice for my trip next year.

I thought I'd just see what our more tech savvy members think about this. It looks like the update is set to be released later this month, which would be in time for my next trip to France. So...... thoughts?

Posted by
10342 posts

KRS, keep in mind that not only do you need the newer Airpods (AirPods Pro2 and higher) but you also need an iPhone 15 Pro or higher. It has to have AI to be able to function and also needs to be running OS26.

Posted by
825 posts

Good catch Mardee. I think my phone is an 11, so that settles it for me. Still, it seems like a good concept. Maybe waiting until the bugs are worked out is a good idea anyway.

Posted by
10342 posts

KRS, it wouldn't hurt!. :-) I have an iPhone 14 and am looking to upgrade soon (probably to the 17). If I do that, I would probably also upgrade my AirPods. But I'm holding off until early next year before I do that.

That said, it's a very cool feature!

Posted by
6 posts

I’ve tested AirPods with Apple’s Translate and Google Translate apps while traveling—great for short phrases, but still clunky in live conversations. Battery life and background noise can also be issues. For more reliable interactions, I pre-script key exchanges. It’s like using Phonexa in lead management—you prep and track everything up front to avoid surprises in real-time.

Posted by
3050 posts

I’m very tempted by this. We’re going to France again in January and I think I’m going to ask for these new AirPod 3 for Christmas just to see if they work. The other thing I’ve heard is they have better noise canceling for use on the plane, etc., so I think overall it won’t be a bad idea to get them.

There’s been a couple of times when I wanted to take a tour of someplace, and the only tour was in the local language. I can make do in Spanish, but after that, it’s a real struggle so I thought these would be really useful for something like that. I mean you’re not going to be able to carry on a conversation because they don’t talk back. :)

If I do get them, I will report back on how it goes in France

Posted by
825 posts

Carol, please do. I’d like to hear your thoughts . I hadn’t planned on getting a newer phone, so they’d do me no good for now.

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