Have you ever used a language translation smart phone app in overseas travel? (airport, drivers)

[kanhawk]

Did you find these work well , especially the ones that actually speak, when you are in a foreign country and you don't speak the language?

This commercial is one example.

iPhone 3G Commercial - Lonely Planet - YouTube

[irman]

Imagine the following:
You are in a country where you do not speak the language.
Now you pull out your smart phone, and punch in a standard question.
It speaks it for you in rather good whatever language it is programmed for.

Now the sad part.
The person you asked via the smart phone, does not speak English.
So he rattles off the answer.
Where does that leave you ?

If the person you asked, speaks English, then the translator was not required ...

[StealthRabbit]

Did you find these work well , especially the ones that actually speak, when you are in a foreign country and you don't speak the language?

Works well for Taxi drivers, ordering food.

Mapping / directions are biggest benefit of smart phone in Foreign Country, BUT... finding a Jail broke, multi SIM USA Smart phone is impossible (AFAIK).

USA is SO far behind in connectivity / e commerce / relevant travel apps... Living / working overseas for 20+ yrs indicates that coming home to USA gets more painful (for acessiblity to technology). My USA home has ONLY access to dialup, tho <16 miles from an International Airport and 500k poulation urban center. I get better coverage / service in far more remote areas of the world, and SIGNIFICANTLY more affordable.

[Tober138]

Originally Posted by irman

Imagine the following:
You are in a country where you do not speak the language.
Now you pull out your smart phone, and punch in a standard question.
It speaks it for you in rather good whatever language it is programmed for.

Now the sad part.
The person you asked via the smart phone, does not speak English.
So he rattles off the answer.
Where does that leave you ?

If the person you asked, speaks English, then the translator was not required ...

While I have not yet put mine to real world use, the translation app on my phone translates speech (English) to whateve rlanguage and communicates it. Then you just hit a button to record their answer and it translates it back into English.

A bit clunky, but better than trying to play charades I would guess.

[irman]

Originally Posted by Tober138

Then you just hit a button to record their answer and it translates it back into English.

Aha, that would at least give you some idea what the answer was !

I said *some*, because, often it is not quite right, but as I mentioned above, it gets you the general idea.

I *am* surprised about the capabilities of these doohickeys lately.
Most of them need to have a session with you teaching the doohickey what *you* sound like.
For that doohickey to *understand* any language, spoken by any person, male or female, is, if good, quite remarkable !

As a polyglot, I have *worked* with several institutions on translation software, and it was not easy to get the idioms correct.

I wonder, does the unit also records your voice and then translates it to whatever other language ?

Startrek is not that futuristic, no ?

[viewgb]

Not Yet Dear...

[annerk]

I prefer to learn some key words and phrases in the language of the country I'll be visiting, as well as the location of the nearest American hospital and embassy before I leave.

[boxus]

You will never need it, just a useless fluff tool.

People make too big of a deal out of the language barrier.