Google Translate – A Mobile App We Have All Been Waiting For

Are you struggling to learn Turkish and find you are misunderstood even when making the simplest of sentences? Well Google have an App that could be the answer to many a confused conversation.

A few years ago as an April Fool spoof we wrote about a gadget that would translate the spoken word into another language so we could hold a conversation with someone.

Well the day when that gadget may become reality has taken a step further thanks to Google.
Google continue to develop amazingly useful things to help us with our daily lives. From their excellent mapping services to the very reliable Gmail they seem to have their finger on the pulse of what we need.

Their latest and, in our opinion, greatest development has to be their translation service. Whilst being far from perfect it is a massive step in communication.

And, if you have a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet (e.g. Ipad) you can now download their latest development of the App (Application). It translates from English to many languages including Turkish!
With Google Translate you can:

• Translate text between 63 languages
• Translate by speaking the text instead of typing it (17 languages)
• Listen to your translations spoken aloud (24 languages)
• Display translations in full screen mode to make it easier for others nearby to read
• Star your favourite translations for quick access even when you’re offline
• Access your translation history even when you’re offline
• Spell out the translation of non-Latin script languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, etc..) in Latin characters to read it phonetically (e.g. Pinyin, Romaji)

We downloaded the App for the Apple IPad, as we have one, to see just how good it is.

Herhangi bir iyi? Is it Any Good?

Click on the microphone button and the App will record your speech and then translate it! And then, if you click on another button, it will translate and read out your speech in the language of your choice.
We tested the new app by starting with easy phrases and seeing how they came out.
We started with the simple ‘hello’ and then worked up to more complicated phrases.
Hello – Merhaba
How much – Ne Kadar
Is there a discount? – Bir inderim var
Where can I get a boat trip? – Nerede bir tekne turu alabilirsiniz
We are on holiday for 2 weeks – Biz 2 hafta tatilde
Someone has stolen my credit card – Birisi benim kredi karti caldi
In each case the App writes the Turkish and then, if you press the speaker icon, will read out the phrase in Turkish.

You can make the translation larger to show the person you are speaking to.

Initially we found the app misunderstood our sentences. But once we slowed down, spoke clearly and into the microphone the accuracy was much better.

With our Ipad we need to be on a wireless network for the App to be able to translate because it has to go off and get the data it needs. But one fantastic feature is that you can prepare a whole range of phrases, translate and save them for use when you are off line.

So, you could for example, prepare a whole list of phrases you may use when you go shopping and then use the App as you need to.

Limitations

Don’t expect you can read out a page of text and get the App to translate. It can only translate sentences of 100 characters or less but we found that enough for most of our day to day needs.

One area we found did not work very well was when we tried translating the time phrases. It translated Two Thirty into 230 and ten past three into 10 son 3.

If there is a great deal of background noise or chatter then the speech recognition can be hit and miss. However, if that does happen you can just type in your question and press play for the app to speak the phrase in Turkish.

But despite these limitations we think this is one App that will just get better and better and should be a great help to anyone trying to communicate in a foreign tongue.
Kolay Gelsin!

Google Translate mobile is available for Apple Iphone and Ipad, Andriod devices and more.

Original Source

Mobile App Development