Best Ways to Use Google Translate in a Foreign Country
If all you’ve ever done with Google Translate is copy and paste text, you’re missing out on it. The application can translate signs and menus visually, save the most frequently used phrases and much more.
Load your tongue before leaving home
Even if you are confident that you will have a data connection at your destination, it only takes a minute to load the target language in the Google Translate app.
Just touch the name of the language on the home screen; he can say “Identify the language.” From this screen, you can tap the download icon next to each language you might need on the go. ( Here are the official google directions .)
You can now translate this custom form while flying over the ocean. Or transfer things all over Paris when you think the French cellular network sucks but you really just forgot to turn on international roaming. Ask how I know.
Use a camera for signage and menus
This function is like magic. Press the little camera button and hold your phone between your eyeballs and the sign, menu, or form you’re trying to read. Google will translate words on the fly by inserting capital letters in English instead of words in another language.
Watch live through the screen or press the shutter button to freeze the image. This mode is ideal for menus or lists: after taking a photo, you can select text with your finger and get a translation of only those words.
Unfortunately, the camera cannot handle large blocks of text. I tried reading Spanish magazines this way and found that the application translates each line of text individually. In narrow columns of magazine text, this meant he would only translate a few words at a time and completely misunderstand any words that were wrapped and split across two lines.
Our parenting editor Michelle Wu, who is looking for a cure for the common cold in Tokyo, noted that Google Translate was not good at helping her decipher labels, but it did help her eliminate packages that mentioned sinus or nasal symptoms that weren’t medications. which she was looking for.
Save phrases you may need again
If you just enter a word or phrase, Google translates it without having to click an additional button. But if you actually hit enter, the app will save that phrase and its translation in your story.
Mark your favorites and you can easily find them in the Saved tab at the bottom of the screen.
Don’t trust him with anything extra important.
Google Translate is handy as a helper, but mistakes are still possible. Our team in Tokyo found the menu to be good, but not enough at the pharmacy to help them choose what to buy. “In the end, an employee who spoke a little English showed me the correct medicine,” says Michelle.
A recent study found that Google Translate translates hospital discharge instructions fairly well from English to Spanish and Chinese, but at times it would be disastrously wrong – for example, suggesting a patient to continue taking a medication when the instructions actually told them to stop taking it. In difficult situations, be sure to find someone who can translate important information.