The Google Translate Android app has been updated with an offline mode now; so no internet connection in a foreign country won’t mean babbling hysterically while asking passersby for the way to the nearest restroom or motel. This is probably one of the most useful additions to have hit the tool in a long time and a bill with reduced roaming charges is not the only thing to be thankful for.
Those who travel to far flung corners of the globe may be able to properly appreciate the convenience offered by the said introduction. Even if users don’t find roaming fees to be an issue, there’s always the possibility that the area they’re traversing does not enjoy mobile network connectivity. Here’s where the offline access to translations comes into play, providing travelers have first downloaded the required language packs from the provided option in the menu.
The developers atop Mountain View admit that this aspect of the software which does not require users to be connected, is ‘less comprehensive’ than the corresponding online tool. But it’s supposed to be good enough for essential communication needs. While the application itself can handle text and speech in over 60 languages, the new facility is explained to accommodate only 50. These supported tongues include French, Chinese, Arabic and Spanish.
Apart from the addition of an extra mode, the company has also brought in the ability to interpret vertical text scribbled in Japanese, Chinese or Korean, through the concerned device’s camera. For those who aren’t familiar with the utility, it allows users to input content they need to understand via handwriting, voice or simply a picture clicked through their gadget’s snapper. The supported tongues cover Afrikaans, Albanian, Azerbaijani, Galician, Basque, Bengali, Gujarati, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Swahili, Kannada and many more.
The Google Translate Android app can be acquired from the Play Store, of course. It is available for free and works with v2.3 or higher of the mobile OS. The utility is a 5.7MB download and though the marketplace place mentions that it gels with v2.1 or later, the official Android blog indicates the v2.3 requirement for the new mode to be accessible.