Are you traveling to a foreign country, and at a disadvantage because you do not understand the language? Do not fear, the Google Translate application can translate dozens of languages ​​either through text or voice.

You can write text in a foreign language or speak it in the application, and the words are translated into your mother tongue. You can even point your smartphone to a sign or other text written in a foreign language, and the application shows the translation for you. Let's see this.

Google Translate works with iOS and Android devices. IPhone and iPad users can download it from the Apple App Store, while Android users can get it from Google Play. Both versions offer approximately the same characteristics. Beyond English, a selection of languages ​​supported by the application includes French, Italian, German, Spanish, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Arabic, Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish.

Text to Text / Voice

First, let's say you want to see an Italian translation of a sentence in English. Touch the name of the current language in the upper left part of the screen and select English as the source language. Next, tap the language name in the upper right part of the screen and select Italian as the target language. Next, touch the field that says: "Tap to enter text" and start typing the English word or phrase you want to translate.

Google Translate
Alternatively, you can touch the rayon symbol and write an English phrase of one character at a time using your finger or a stylus. As you trace or write characters on the screen, the application tries to predict what you plan to write in its entirety by showing possible combinations of words and letters. You can continue writing or you can select one of the words if it matches the one you want to write.

In return, Google Translate displays the word or phrase in Italian. You can tap the right arrow button next to the translation, and then tap a loudspeaker icon next to the phrase in English or Italian to hear it out loud in either language.

Voice to text

As a third option, you can touch the microphone icon at the top of the screen and say your word or phrase in the application. Google Translate translates and broadcasts your words in Italian.

Both English and Italian are compatible with the two-way instant voice translation of the application. That means that the translation is almost instantaneous. So you can hold a conversation in real time with an Italian native speaking in English, listen to the words translated into Italian, and then listen to the other person's response in Italian translated into English.

Google Translate
Translate images

Another interesting feature is the ability of the application to translate text into an image through the camera of your mobile device.

First, choose the languages ​​of origin and destination. Next, tap the camera icon. For some languages, you will have to download a language pack. Do that and then point the camera of your device at a signal, document or other piece of text written in the language of origin. The source language is translated into the target language, visible on the screen of your mobile device.

If you do not have enough space on your device to download a language pack, you can discard that option to get a more manual translation. Point your camera at the text you wish to translate, such as this Russian version of a PCMag note, until you see the words "Align text". Keep the landline phone until the message Align text and translate the text disappears. Press the shutter button on your device. The application will ask you to highlight the text you want to translate with your finger and it will offer you its best estimate.