Google Translate

Fix the Japanese translations, and add Irish Gaelic pronunciation!!

I think the handwriting search for Japanese translation in Google Translate is second-to-none, because it uses shape recognition incredibly well. But the sound pronunciations of the Japanese characters almost always differ from their transliteration into Latin alphabet below the text! Kanji are characters that typically have at least 2 different pronunciations depending on how they are used. This is not something you can trust an artificial intelligence to properly program or be able to discern!! From a language-learner’s perspective, Google Translate cannot reliably be used or trusted. It is designed for those who don’t care about learning other languages. This pragmatic approach has its benefits, because it can translate semantically even when there is a mistake in the language being translated. But this also leads to deficits in the app’s ability to assist in learning. The discrepancy between the audio pronunciation and the transliteration of Japanese characters is especially bad. But this app is still an amazing piece of technology that is extremely helpful for handwriting searches. I wouldn’t be able to figure out some Japanese characters’ meanings if this app didn’t work the way it does. As for getting real information ABOUT the characters, I always have to find the character on Google Translate first, then use the Benkyō app for Apple devices.

Reviewed on version 10.10.235

One of the top 2 translator apps

I’ve been using this app from the start and the updates have all been great. My review can only be said for the English/German translation. I don’t know how accurate it is for other languages. The best update so far as usability was the delay from when the user stops speaking and the time the app stops listening in order to translate. When learning a new language the speaker is obviously going to have pauses in order to think for a second. The app used to assume that was all the speaker intended and then would translate. Horribly irritating. I (and probably others) made a suggestion to the team and they updated it. Now a pause won’t automatically end until more time goes by. I wish there was a setting or button that the user could use to modify/set the duration of a pause before auto-translating for a better learning/teaching experience but for now the update has been a God send. Also the update a while back on translating written words from a book etc is simply incredible. I love it. I totally thought it was magic. I have found that some words or sentences aren’t translated perfectly but that’s probably more to the app not knowing the whole story or context of what the speaker is trying to convey but it does a pretty good job. I find using capital letters at the start of a sentence and good punctuation critical when you type your sentence in order to improve the translation. The list of synonyms for a word is very helpful as well. I’ve been using the Pimsleur language courses (CDs) for years and it’s uncanny how accurate the app is with those. I was also told my German is quite good by native speakers when I was in Switzerland and I truly feel that this app was a part of my overall learning experience. Glitches or bugs sometimes occur but I think that is when I don’t have a very good signal or something more related to the service vs the app itself.

Reviewed on version 5.24.0

Both very useful and very buggy...

When it works, it's great; when it doesn't, it's terrible. I use this app for many languages. I don't often have problems with French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, or Korean. I have had continuous problems with Chinese, though. Sometimes, the language just disappears. I'll try to translate between Chinese and English using the microphone to speak and the Chinese option will disappear. Sometimes, it shows Chinese as an option but won't actually take spoken input. I've had to close out of the app and restart it over and over again. This is a relatively new issue, but it's very persistent and really hobbles the app. I haven't had such issues with the camera feature for Chinese, nor have I had any issues with the written Chinese. I've actually found both features very useful in my study of the Chinese language and my examination of Chinese characters that I find in books and on packaging. I'm grateful for those great features. I really hope that the audio feature for Chinese is fixed soon. I have submitted reports to Google but haven't heard anything back. Just be aware of this issue if using the app for Chinese. Double-click on the home button and swipe away the app to close it out and then restart it. That has helped me. Perhaps part of the issue is that Chinese is tonal? Other languages are not and they're much easier to understand by ear when hearing a person speak. Perhaps that extends to the difficulty of making the app work with it? I have noticed that even when it works, sometimes it's finnicky when recognizing certain tones. It's a great app, but this really needs improvement. I look forward to seeing what fixes updates bring.

Reviewed on version 5.17.0