Google Translate

Google Translate is now a form of augmented reality and is adapted for educational purposes. This application provides users with tools to translate between languages and they now include an image option; users take a photograph of a sign, piece of paper, or other form of written text and receive a translation in the language of their choice. This augmented reality is ground breaking because this allows online learners to access content in other languages. The application also translates spoken word in real time, which allows all learners to access audio in written form, in their own language, online or in-person. This version of augmented reality that is adapted for education can be utilized in an online learning environment and can be utilized by instructional designers. One of the major challenges with instructional design is selecting the correct tools to build learning experiences. With this application, instructional designers are able to create a course in their own language and can make their lesson accessible to learners by recommending Google Translate for accessibility. I plan to utilize this in conjunction with my online lessons and videos in order to reach more students with diverse abilities and primary languages.

If if you are using anything but Google translate to do your Spanish work for you, you are missing the boat. It translates whole pages of text instantly without error. It uses understandable language for our US - Mexico border area. I was using a different translator when I saw a doctor using Google to communicate with a Spanish only patient. That’s when I learned about Google Translate and switched. For the past two years, I have used a different Spanish translator/dictionary App. It was slow and tedious, only would translate a short paragraph at a time, but worse - it inserted words which were clearly wrong. One time instead of asking my gardener to complete a task, it inserted the word marriage into the sentence! His wife would have not been happy! Luckily I caught it before texting as I had to double- check every phrase. But now I no longer have to worry and each phrase is spot on. ( at least so far I think it’s been!).

If you are visiting a place where they speak a different language, or you simply want to communicate with someone in their language, this is the tool to use. Overseas, I recommend having this program and Microsoft translator. Both of them are great —AND FREE—, and although neither one is perfect, sometimes one does a better job translating than the other. Also, make sure you download the languages before traveling. You never know if you will have internet access when you need it, so better to have the language package available. These translators are also getting better everyday. First time I tried them, they weren’t great, but were helpful. Nowadays, they do a great job in some languages. Spanish, Portuguese, French and Dutch modules are great, Chinese (Mandarin) isn’t that great, but did got us through. Again, download both, google and Microsoft sometimes they complement each other. While I had my wife’s phone with Google and mine with Microsoft, we got pretty high success. I guess sometimes one app gets some accents better than the other. Again, both apps are greatly recommended for traveling overseas. Thank you Microsoft and Google for making this a free App!

This app is so much better than Microsoft translator. I used it first set a lot of messages on social media to new friends only to find out those messages were a jumbled mess of random words. They assume you lack the skills and ability process thoughts into Russian even with translator. It’s hard to come back from. I love that you can translate live with the camera because a lot of times I’m watching a broadcast or something and trying to keep up with everyone. The thing however that frustrates me the most about all apps including this one is that they tend to stop listening before the conversation has ended. Whether I just push the button and let go or cold it during the entire time after certain. It’s stops listening and you have to stop the sound if you’re lucky enough to be able to rewind it. I would like it to be easier to use within an app and not have to copy and paste etc. but overall I really like it it’s the one I use most and I’ve got some I paid for that just don’t stack up.

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Many times when I record audio or pictures, the translation doesn’t even come up. The audio is worse since no matter what I do, speaking into the microphone is just a bust. I’ll say something into the microphone, and it won’t do anything. It doesn’t even load, it just indefinitely waits for me to say more. No matter how much I say, real words or not, it doesn’t ever even acknowledge that I’m done talking and if I hit any buttons, the X to close it or microphone button that you’d think would tell what it said, just cancel out of it. Not to mention, taking pics is a nightmare. You have to highlight with your finger the phrases you want translated, but you can’t move the picture around easily. So if you zoom into a certain part, it’s hard to zoom back out, and you can’t move the picture at all without zooming in or out. So if you zoom out in a way that makes the pic go off to the side, well, too bad. Why can’t it just detect the words itself? Or at the very least, why can’t I translate more then one thing in a picture, and do I have to take the same picture again and again just to see everything it says?