Google Translate Receives Update, Includes New “Conversation” Mode

Google Translate came equipped with a new “Conversation” mode today that allows you to have a conversation with someone on the street, with your phone, in 2 different languages.  This new option currently only translates conversations in English and Spanish, but that’s impressive in itself.  Here is Google’s explanation on this new feature:

In conversation mode, simply press the microphone for your language and start speaking. Google Translate will translate your speech and read the translation out loud. Your conversation partner can then respond in their language, and you’ll hear the translation spoken back to you. Because this technology is still in alpha, factors like regional accents, background noise or rapid speech may make it difficult to understand what you’re saying. Even with these caveats, we’re excited about the future promise of this technology to be able to help people connect across languages.

Now, knowing Google, this will likely have many other languages in just a short amount of time.  In fact, they already have voice support for 15 languages, so the base is already in place to get conversations going between the rest of our wonderful world.  They also updated the UI, but the star here is the breakthrough “Conversation” mode.  Anyone given it a spin yet?

Via:  Google Mobile Blog