How to use Google Translate as a real-time translator

Chances are you have dozens and dozens of apps installed on your phone, and it’s not easy to keep track of every feature added to each of those apps over time, such as voice translation functionality. can be used in the Google Translate app to Android or iOS.

If you’re communicating with someone in a foreign language that you’re not fluent in (or even understand the basics of), you’ll no longer have to type text sentences and wait for a response. The instant translation option means you can hold the phone between two people while they’re talking and translate their speech between languages ​​as needed in real time.

It’s all based on smart AI technology that Google has been developing for years. Although this is not entirely foolproof, it can help you understand yourself and be understood in return. Whether it’s finding directions to a train station or getting details about a customer’s order, you never know when this feature might come in handy.

How real-time translation works

If you have the Google Translate app installed on your phone, there’s almost everything you need to get started. However, keep in mind that this feature requires Internet access and can consume a lot of data. It is especially important to keep this in mind. if you’re overseas, where Wi-Fi hotspots may not be as easy to find and where you may well end up paying more for mobile data.

Google calls this real-time translation feature the transcription feature and supports eight languages: English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai. If you’re trying to communicate in another language, you’re out of luck, or maybe you can try. Show this list to the person you’re chatting with and see what else they can talk about.

Download Google Translate and you will see Conversation in the lower left corner. If it is grayed out and unavailable, it means that the currently selected input language does not support transcription. Click on the box on the left (above Conversation) to select the language you want to translate from and the box on the right to select the language you want to translate into; Please note that this feature does not support automatic language detection.

Once you’ve selected your languages, tap Conversation and you’ll be ready to start talking. There are three buttons at the bottom of the screen: you can manually select each language in turn when the corresponding speaker is ready to speak, in which case press the buttons labeled for the corresponding language. Alternatively select Car so that the application listens to different voices without the need for manual selection.

Translation options and additional features

Since you’re bilingual during a conversation, you’ll notice that text transcriptions of what you’re saying also appear on the screen. This is a convenient way to check that you have been understood correctly, and you can make changes to your incoming message by clicking on the text and editing it.

The voice output of the Google Translate app is also displayed on the screen; you can’t edit it, but you can play it back on the speaker. icon next to it so you can read it or create a new one. The standard text selection options apply here if you need to copy the transcript text to another location: Tap and hold on a block of text to select it on Android or iOS.

There’s no option to talk about the transcription feature in Google Translate, but you can click the icon button (top right) to display an information card written in the language you’re translating. The idea is that you show this card to a person who speaks a different language so that they understand how the translation function works.

Return to the main Google Translate screen. There are several options you can play with. These can be accessed by tapping your Google account profile photo (top right) and selecting Settings. You can change the regional accent of the voice you use and change the speed. voice response, and also delete your Google Translate history.