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MUST have: Real time translation app for bilingual conversations and text. OFFLINE!! and FREE!!

Posted by on

I thought I'd give a little back in return from the HUGE amount of help I have received from this community in the past few days. Some may already know it but, I'd say most people don't (yet).

Google just made a major update to its Translate app implementing their new purchased technology (company) "Word Lens".
With this you can have a bilingual conversation in real time and translate text through your camera instantly without even snap a photo! It gets better since it works OFFLINE! Just download your desired language packs and enjoy your personal translator/interpreter on your next trip.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/hallo-hola-ola-more-powerful-translate.html

Enjoy!

Posted by
32206 posts

I've tried several language translator app's and have found that while they do a reasonably good job of translating, they're not grammatically perfect (according to native speakers of the languages that I've tried them with). However they do seem to at least get the meaning across.

I've had Word Lens for awhile, but haven't had much success with it. The operation seems to be mostly "hit & miss" so far. Now that Google has bought it, maybe they'll get it to work properly.

I've been looking at Google Translate for awhile and have now downloaded it. It didn't seem to give me a choice of choosing language packs though? Now that my annual European holiday is over for the year, I'm not sure when I'll be able to try it though.

Posted by
64 posts

Hi Ken!

I've been testing the app for a bit and seems quite accurate, but obviously not perfect.

Top download language packs tap on the three dots on the upper right corner, then settings, then "Manage offline languages". Click on the download button and have fun!

Posted by
32206 posts

guss,

I discovered that only the Android version has the ability to download off-line language packs. Hopefully they will soon add that to the iOS version.

Posted by
4402 posts

Ken, your post reminds me of a Monty Python skit where John Cleese's handy dandy translation guide has him saying "My hovercraft is full of eels."

Grammar is great, but I follow Rick's advice which is to regress to kindergarten level of pointing, smiling, knowing a few words and not worrying about sentence structure.

Posted by
32206 posts

phred,

I typically don't use electronic translators while travelling, but prefer to learn a few of the polite words of each country I'm visiting (and will sometimes resort to pointing and gesturing, as you mentioned).

I'm just curious to see how far the technology has advanced and how well they work, and what better time to test them than when I'm travelling. I had to resort to some of the "canned phrases" in one of my language app's when in Poland in September, as I was having some problems with the language. Some of the people I dealt with (including younger ones) could not speak any English.

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