Tips for Google Translate
Suppose you are walking on the street abroad and see a complicated street name sign. Or you visit a restaurant, but they haven’t given you a card for you to read. With the Google Translate app you can immediately see the translation – without taking a picture. This works thanks to Google Translate’s Word Lens feature. It’s one of the many features of the Google Translate app that can help you find your way around different countries. Also check out our guide to translating on iPhone and iPad for more choice of apps to translate written and spoken texts.
- Real time
- Spoken text
- Written texts
- Foul language
- Dialects
Real-time translation with Google Translate
We start with the most spectacular function of Google Translate: the real-time translation of texts. It entails pointing the Translate app’s camera at a labeled sign and immediately seeing a translation. The technology comes from the Word Lens app that Google acquired in 2014. A gif immediately shows how it works:
You point the iPhone’s camera at a text you want to translate. The translation immediately appears on the screen, even if you do not have an internet connection. If you want to look at it quietly, take a photo with the round button. You can also select specific phrases to translate and even listen to. This way you don’t make a mistake if you want to order a dish in the local language.
Below is a video of the feature in action:
Translate spoken texts with Google Translate
Google Translate can also serve as an interpreter, by immediately converting spoken texts into your own language. You speak a text and the app provides the translation. This also allows you to have your interlocutor say something back in their own language, which is then translated for you. That is how it works:
- Select the desired language pair at the top of the screen, for example Dutch > French.
- Tap the microphone symbol in the search box.
- Speak your text after the beep and the translation is immediately spoken and also appears on the screen. This way you can immediately see whether Google Translate has correctly understood your text.
Want to have a real conversation and translate multiple sentences back and forth? Then tap the Call button with the two figures, instead of the microphone symbol.
Translate written texts with Google Translate
Of course you can also just type in a text with Google Translate and then view the translation. This is the most famous application of the app. At the top, select the source language and the target language, enter a text in Dutch and you will immediately see the translation in blue. If you want more options, tap the blue arrow. You can now have a word or the whole sentence spoken, save the translation as a favorite or share it with others.
Also nice is that you can write texts by hand. This is especially useful for difficult languages such as Arabic and Japanese, but it can also be useful for languages with foreign characters such as the French c-cedilla, the inverted Spanish question mark, and the German ringel-s. Tap the pen icon next to the microphone icon and use your finger or a stylus to write the handwritten text in the box.
Coarse language and dialects
Google blocks bad language, but if you want to exchange bad words, you can: tap the cogwheel, then Settings > Voice input > Block bad language. Turn off the switch.
You can also indicate via the settings whether you want to use a certain dialect or a certain tongue. For example, with English you can choose from variants that focus on India or South Africa.
Looking for more apps to translate texts? Check out our app list!
