What is the best app for translating texts?
June 9, 2017 10:27 AM Subscribe
An app that automatically translates texts from Portuguese to English and back would be an immense help to my Brazilian housekeeper. Can you recommend one that would be super easy for her to use?
Response by poster: Yes, unless there's something I don't understand about the Google app, you can't get automatic translations of texts both ways directly within it. It's a cumbersome multi-step process. She has to communicate with a lot of different people and can only do it in writing because she has almost no spoken English.
posted by HotToddy at 11:56 AM on June 9, 2017
posted by HotToddy at 11:56 AM on June 9, 2017
Could you maybe explain a little bit of what you mean by translation of texts both ways?
Presumably you are inputting the text in one language so you only need the translation in the other direction. So if you put in "Você fala inglês?" you'll get "Do you speak English?" in the Google Translate app, but you can see both the original Portuguese and the translated English at the same time.
On a related note, is any of this text going to be complicated? I wouldn't trust machine translation for things that require a high degree of accuracy for anything more than simple sentences.
posted by andrewesque at 2:05 PM on June 9, 2017
Presumably you are inputting the text in one language so you only need the translation in the other direction. So if you put in "Você fala inglês?" you'll get "Do you speak English?" in the Google Translate app, but you can see both the original Portuguese and the translated English at the same time.
On a related note, is any of this text going to be complicated? I wouldn't trust machine translation for things that require a high degree of accuracy for anything more than simple sentences.
posted by andrewesque at 2:05 PM on June 9, 2017
I think the OP is talking about text messages, and wants to use a text messaging app that sends/receives text messages while also translating them.
posted by freezer cake at 4:19 PM on June 9, 2017
posted by freezer cake at 4:19 PM on June 9, 2017
Response by poster: What freezer cake said. I want something that allows her to type in Portuguese and have it go out in English, and have the texts her clients send in English show up in Portuguese on her phone. Don't worry about reliability; anything would be better than what we have now, which is basically a lot of emojis and confusion.
posted by HotToddy at 4:41 PM on June 9, 2017
posted by HotToddy at 4:41 PM on June 9, 2017
Response by poster: And to super clarify, I am talking about text messages. Not "texts" in the generic sense.
posted by HotToddy at 4:43 PM on June 9, 2017
posted by HotToddy at 4:43 PM on June 9, 2017
GBoard keyboard from Google has the option in Android to use the Google translate service on text messaging, or any app that can use the Android keyboard. This should enable her to send messages in the receiver's language. As for the messages she receives, she can use tap to translate option from Google translate that translates the selected text on screen without switching to another app.
posted by ssri at 4:40 AM on June 10, 2017
posted by ssri at 4:40 AM on June 10, 2017
Apparently GBoard does the same in iOS, but I have not used it in iOS
posted by ssri at 4:46 AM on June 10, 2017
posted by ssri at 4:46 AM on June 10, 2017
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posted by humboldt32 at 11:24 AM on June 9, 2017