The Google Translate app has been the go-to tool for travellers, academics, and the curious alike, with its game-changing live camera translation function helping people make instant sense of signs, menus, and other foreign language text, all with just a point of their camera.
To date, Google Translate has supported the conversion of almost 40 languages into English via this function, but today they have announced that 89 languages can now be translated live into the 100+ total languages supported by Google Translate. This means that translating Irish into German or Japanese is now a possibility, opening up a world of opportunity and fun.
Not only is this a boon for Irish people travelling abroad, but visitors to Gaeltacht areas and others with an interest in Gaeilge can now get instant help and clarification thanks to Google Translate. For the first time, Neural Machine Translation (NMT) technology is built into instant camera translations, which produces more accurate and natural translations and reduces errors by 55-85 per cent in certain language pairs. And most of the languages can be downloaded onto your device so that you can use the feature without an internet connection. However, when your device is connected to the internet, the feature uses that connection to produce higher quality translations.
A language ‘auto detect’ function has been added too. When travelling abroad, especially in a region with multiple languages or unfamiliar symbols, the first challenge is to know the language of the text. But in the new version of the app, you can just select “Detect language” as the source language, and the Translate app will automatically detect the language and translate.
To round it all off, the app has got a new redesign and under-the-hood improvements, resulting in the fastest and most powerful Google Translate to date. The app is available for download now on both Android and iOS platforms.
