I was once told that if you knew the English, French and German languages, you could travel almost anywhere in the world and make yourself understood.
I believe it was either my French or German teacher who revealed that sage nugget of information鈥� probably to justify their jobs.
But that seems about right, although I鈥檇 probably throw in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish for good measure, as well as Klingon just because you may want to impress that Wonder Woman cosplayer at the next ComicCon.
But thanks to the new and improved Google Translate app for your Android or Apple smartphone, there鈥檚 really no need to actually learn another language any more.
The app already let you easily translate English into something like 80 different languages just by typing or speaking a desired word or phrase into your phone. But the product was recently updated to include a conversation mode, which allows for automatic voice translation for two people speaking聽different languages, and the surprising Word Lens, which instantly translates text on things like street signs when you point your camera at it, overlaying the translation right onto the screen.
These enhanced features pretty much usher in the age of the 鈥渦niversal translator鈥� from Star Trek that allowed Captain Kirk to communicate with, outwit or seduce the various aliens he encountered weekly without having to look through a Klingon/Earthman dictionary every two seconds to find out how to say 鈥淟et鈥檚 make sweet alien music together.鈥�
For the conversation mode, you simply set your language choices (from, say, English to French) and say what鈥檚 on your mind. Tap on the screen and a Stephen Hawking-like voice intones what you just said, but in the new language. Then your friend can do the same, and voil脿, two people who speak completely different tongues can converse with relative ease.
Word Lens is even cooler than that, though. It鈥檚 an augmented reality (AR) mode that utilizes your smartphone鈥檚 camera, and translates text in real time. Just point your camera at a sign, menu or any copy, and it instantly transforms the words of one language into another鈥� right be fore your eyes. So basically, through your phone鈥檚 screen, you鈥檙e looking at the same sign, the same font and everything, but in a new language.
After showing this new function to people, some have actually remarked, 鈥淚 know I just saw it happen, but I still kind of don鈥檛 believe it happened.鈥�
Yeah, it鈥檚 that neat.
But that鈥檚 not to say Google Translate doesn鈥檛 have a ways to go yet.
聽When translating a box of crackers from French to English for me, the app changed 鈥淭he cracker Canada loves to dunk in soup鈥︹�� to 鈥淭he crackers everyone loves to dip in soup鈥︹��
Dip. Dunk. That鈥檚 pretty close, but I鈥檓 sure even such slight nuances might possibly alter the desired meaning of a phrase.
Kirk wouldn鈥檛 get so far with the alien babe if the universal translator had altered his come-on to 鈥淟et鈥檚 produce diabetes-inducing foreign noise as a group.鈥�
It鈥檚 still an incredibly polished, technologically advanced and pretty useful app, nonetheless, and considering it鈥檚 absolutely free to download and use, and doesn鈥檛 require WiFi to use once downloaded, everyone should have this on their smartphones.
There鈥檚 no word on when they鈥檒l be adding Klingon as a translatable language, though, so you鈥檒l probably want to find another way to impress at ComicCon this year.
