Google has updated Translate for Android with a new Conversation Mode and features to make the app easier to
interact with. Improvements include drop-down
boxes to help select the languages you want to translate from and into,
an improved input box, and cleaner icons and layout.
Conversation Mode is an experimental feature that's still in its earliest
stages. This is a new interface within Google
Translate that's optimized to allow you to communicate fluidly with a
nearby person in another language. You can try conversation mode yourself on your Android smartphone. See the Conversation Mode demo at the end of this article. The Google guy shows how it can work in a shoe store.
Currently,
you can only use Conversation Mode when translating between English and
Spanish. In conversation mode, press the microphone for your
language and start speaking. Google Translate will translate your speech
and read the translation out loud. Your conversation partner can then
respond in their language, and you'll hear the translation spoken back
to you.
Because this technology is still in alpha, factors like regional accents, background noise or rapid speech may make it difficult to understand what you're saying. Even with these caveats, we're excited about the future promise of this technology to be able to help people connect across languages.
The majority of Google Translate uses are currently from outside the United States, and there's daily usage from more than 150 countries, from Malaysia to Mexico to Mozambique.
Translate supports 53 languages, from Afrikaans to Yiddish, and voice input for 15 languages. You can download the application, available for devices running Android 2.1 and above, by searching for "Google Translate" in Android Market.