Near real-time translation technology already exists, notably with Ambassador, a large black headset sold in pairs for less than €200. As soon as it is paired, wirelessly, via Bluetooth, to its app on your smartphone, it starts working by translating, in your ear, from and to 20 languages, what the person in front of you is saying. The main European languages but also Arabic, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese in particular. With a pair of these earpieces, one can chat with anyone, in most countries of the world. When talking about digital and foreign languages, it’s hard not to mention Google Translate (on iOS and Android) with its catalog of 132 languages, including 71 for the translation of instant conversations.
On Apple Watch, Siri, Apple’s voice assistant can provide services from time to time. Just ask him the question: “How to say such a sentence” and to specify the language among eleven available. Another option: the iTranslate apps (iOS and Android) whose free version may suffice or Microsoft Translator (on Android) or Translator (on iOS), very well rated with its 70 languages.
In 2015, Google launched the instant translation of text observed by the smartphone sensor. Since then, all you have to do is aim for a menu, in a restaurant, or a sign, in the street, to see the translation displayed superimposed on the image and in the same font. It was stunning, seven years ago, it still is in this summer of 2022, with the function “Live Text” on iPhone and iPad, released last September. It allows you to select text on a photo, and get its translation in one click.
An app dedicated to translation on iOS and Android: Linguee, with its 16 bi-directional dictionaries between several languages, which also works without connection provided you download the dictionaries you need, when you have a network. And then, a very fun app for learning English, Spanish, Italian, German or Portuguese: Duolingo (on iOS and Android). You choose how much time you want to spend on it per day, between five and 20 minutes. But be careful: each mistake causes you to lose a life and you only have five lives per day!