The Google Translate app can be a lifesaver for travelers who need to ask locals a question or understand what someone is saying in a language they don't speak. And now, using the translating app is easier than ever, thanks to the latest update to iOS and Android.
Google announced in a blog post on Wednesday that the most recent update for its Google Translate app will allow users to see instant visual translations of text in even more languages.
The Google Translate app already lets users visually translate text by snapping a photo of the text that needs translating – such as a road sign or a menu – and the text will be converted into their native language. The feature was however only available in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
The new update now includes instant visual translation in real-time to and from 20 more languages, including English and Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian. One-way translations can also be done from English to Hindi and Thai.
There are also 37 languages offered when using the camera mode.
To utilize this feature, users don't need Internet connection or smartphone data. Google Translate is able to work on its own with deep learning and image recognition technology. The app finds the letters and icons in the picture and uses a convolutional neural network to recognize what the letter is. Once the letters have been registered, they are looked up in a dictionary to provide the translation.
Users can try instant visual translations by downloading the language packs for each new language added.
Along with adding more languages to the app, Google Translate has also made improvements to its voice conversation mode so it will work faster and more naturally — even on slow mobile networks.
Both updates will roll out over the next few days. Watch the app instantly translate in the video below.
Via: The Next Web
