It’s not quite as easy to use as Star Trek’s “universal translators,” but until that day comes here are some Google Translate tips to make the most out of it. Who would have guessed that by the early 21st century that dream would become a reality! Google Translate is a powerful tool that lets you communicate with people in different languages almost instantaneously. You would watch shows like Star Trek and marvel at the idea of making yourself understood across cultures without having to spend months learning and becoming fluent in a language. Google also says you’ll be able to pause or restart the transcription by tapping the mic icon as well as change the text size and customize dark theme options in the Translate settings menu.Years ago, instant translation was akin to science fiction. It should show up as its own “transcribe” option in the app after you’ve updated it. Google says the new transcription feature will be Android-only at launch, but the company has plans to bring it to iOS at some point in the future. In fact, a Google spokesperson says the feature works by combining the existing Live Transcribe feature built into the Recorder app on Pixel phones, which normally works offline, with the power of its TPUs in the cloud, thereby creating real-time translated transcription - so long as you have that internet connection to facilitate the link. To start, this feature will require an internet connection, as Google’s software has to communicate with its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), a custom type of AI-focused processing chip for use in cloud servers, to perform the transcription live.

But a Google spokesperson says that part of the app “wasn’t well suited to listen to a longer translated discussion at a conference, a classroom lecture or a video of a lecture, a story from a grandparent, etc.” Prior to this feature, you could have used Google Translate’s voice option for turning a spoken word, phrase, or sentence from one language into another, including in both text and verbal form. Google told The Verge in January that it will not support the option to upload audio files at launch, but listening to a live audio source, like your laptop, should work as an alternative method. That means you could theoretically hold your phone up to computer speakers and play a recording in one language and have it translated into text in another without you having to input the words manually. This will work live for speeches, lectures, and other spoken word events and from pre-recorded audio, too. Translate live and prerecorded speeches, talks, or classroom lectures

Change the google translate voice