After debuting in September, Google’s two-way speech translating mode called “Conversation Mode” has just arrived on Android phones with a refresh of the popular Translate app.
While most of the Translate update provides usability changes — new buttons, drop down boxes, etc. — the addition of Conversations Mode adds a new way to communicate. With Conversation Mode, a pair of users can speak back and forth using an Android phone as interpreter. The first person speaks in their native language, allows the phone to say the translation to the second person, who then repeats the process back and forth.
There are some catches, of course. Firstly, Google is quick to point out that the technology that supports Conversation Mode is in the alpha phase of development, and can be tripped up by “regional accents, background noise or rapid speech.” Secondly, the Android app has a very real restriction in that it can only perform Spanish/English translations for now. While this underlines the fact that we really aren’t quite to the point of having a Babel Fish in our pockets, It’s exciting to see this technology finally getting in to the hands of users. - Geekosystem
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