Google Translate has been around for quite some time. While not too many people use it on a daily basis, Translate has still been a useful tool for many.
From being a French teacher’s worst nightmare (along with Free Translations) to legitimately help share new ideas from around the world, Translate has helped to bridge the language gaps between people, mostly through comments on the Internet. That’s all about to change though, Translate is taking a much more ubiquitous turn.
Android has certainly cleaned up its UI. It’s now much cleaner, and has voice input.
Voice input is an interesting direction. Android is amongst the three most popular mobile operating systems in North America, and is spreading around the world as fast as the iPhone is. The popularity of this operating system is what I think will make this work well for Google. By enabling such a powerful tool from within a mobile device that so many people possess and use on a regular basis, this will basically integrate Translate into the real physical world.
The new Conversation Mode is what I think will be the driving force behind the Translate movement. The above video, although staged, is plenty applicable to the real world, especially in the retail setting. Not only will this help in the case of tourism, but it will also be a great help to immigrants that aren’t familiar with the new language and the new setting. I can imagine that being able to speak in their native tongue while being understood and not having to worry about a heavy accent from the other side of the conversation will be a load off their mind.
This isn’t just a gimmicky application, but actually serves much purpose. Although I’ve seen some funny videos with Google Translate, I still think that Google’s done a great job with the application, and even better by taking it to the real world through handsets. It’s actually a bit scary how well Android is working out for Google, and how Android offers them such an easy way to translate their dominant online position into a physical presence.
If you’re a fan of Google, check out Google Voice and Google Classic.
Via: Google Blog
