Now Google Translate Can Help You Practice Your Pronunciation.
Despite numerous attempts to learn another language over the years, I currently speak only English. I understand some words and phrases in Spanish and Portuguese, but I can’t hold a conversation in either, and I’d like to change that. It just so happens that Google Translate’s new feature may be able to help me with my language learning a little—albeit rather brutally.
How Google Translate’s new pronunciation tool works
As TechCrunch reports , Google Translate now offers pronunciation practice as part of its functionality, similar to Duolingo. Like Duolingo, Google Translate can listen to your attempt to pronounce a specific word, phrase, or sentence and provide feedback based on how its AI thinks you did it. The app can even offer pronunciation suggestions, so you can focus less on trying to pronounce words syllable by syllable and more on how those words sound phonetically. Nick Fox, senior vice president of knowledge and information at Google, shared the new feature in a post on X on Tuesday :
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According to the post, it’s supposed to work like this: after you enter a word, phrase, or sentence and the app translates it, a new “Practice” option will appear at the bottom of the page. Tap it, and the “Pronunciation” menu will open. You can listen to the translation again, but tapping “Speak” will cause Google Translate to open a pop-up menu with the phonetic pronunciation listed below the translation. At the same time, the app activates your device’s microphone so you can begin speaking. Once complete, the app processes your attempt and provides some suggestions. In the example above, Google Translate informed the user that they were “moving in the right direction,” but “some sounds were a little unclear.”
Google’s pronunciation check feature is not yet fully implemented.
A pronunciation check feature seems like a great addition to one of (if not the) most popular translation apps in the world. Yet, it seems to be rolling out slowly and only half-heartedly. On my Pixel 8 Pro, I don’t have the option at all. My iPhone has a similar feature, but it’s not quite what’s advertised. Here’s how I managed to get it working: after translating text, I don’t see the “Practice” option at the bottom of the screen. However, there is a “Speak” option that appears when I press the speaker button on the translation. This is very similar to what was shown in Fox’s post: I get the translation and the ability to speak into the microphone, but I don’t get a clear phonetic transcription—only a transliteration. It’s not useless, but a phonetic transcription would be much easier to understand, especially when I’m testing Hindi. Unfortunately, I can’t read Devanagari characters, so my attempts to focus on them while talking to Google don’t help much.
Nevertheless, I was able to use both the transliteration and the audio translation while attempting to speak the language. After finishing speaking, I discovered another oddity not mentioned in Google’s announcement: a score! In addition to direct feedback, Google gave me a percentage score out of 100 based on how well it thought I did. I’m usually much better at Spanish than Hindi, but this was only my first day learning the latter.
Perhaps after Google expands its functionality a bit, I’ll get more of the features advertised. But even in its current form, it’s a useful tool. I’m eagerly awaiting Google’s expansion of the supported languages, but for now, this feature could be useful for those wanting to learn Spanish or Hindi—assuming your device has it.