Google Translate Gets New Look, Text to Speech
To this point, Google Translate has been serviceable, if not bland, in its translation of 51 languages. You went to the site, you typed in some words or a Web page URL or uploaded a document, and selected what language you wanted the content translated into. Google Translate Nov. 16 got a lot more useful with some new features, including instant translation, read/write accessibility to some languages written in non-Roman characters and scripts, and text to speech. Instant translation works a little like the Google Suggest technology from the company's core search engine, though instead of suggesting words as you type them, Translate parses them and puts them into the languages you select from the "to" and "from" drop-down menus:
Short queries will include links to dictionary definitions, and mousing over the translations will show the original text for context. The ability to read and write in any language is fun, too. Click "Show romanization" to read the text written phonetically in English. Google says this works for all non-Roman languages except Hebrew, Arabic and Persian:
Users translating text into English can now hear the translations read back to them by clicking the speaker icon. See whole Web pages translated, surprisingly quickly -- about 5 seconds for this TechCrunch rendition from English to simplified Chinese:
Check out all of the features in this video overview:
Nothing sexy, but this is incredibly useful to Google's millions of users, which will only keep people coming back. Neither Microsoft Bing nor Yahoo can hold a candle to this, reinforcing why Google is even bigger abroad than it is in the United States. |
Comments (3)
Hi,
I will apologise in advance for not yet having had the chance to explore the ppresumably positive changes to this site.
I have to say immediately however that I was horrified today to find the way the new format sits on the page making it impossible to use it as I have customarily done in the past and with great satisfaction, that is, until today.
I talk a lot to people in different languages on skype and other sites and have made it a practice to have 'google translate' open on one half of my screen and skype or whatever on the other side.
This means the page is reduced by half but all the actions I needed to take were all available within this space. That is no longer the case because the "translate" button remains on the far right hand side of the page whereas before it would shift (after the first request for a translation) to the bottom left meaning one could have a skinny page with all the info.
PLease tell me if I have missed something because frankly this is a disaster for me with regard to conducting future international calls. Is there some way I can move the translate button back to the left?
Forgive me for not being overjoyed at this stage. I would appreciate your input.
Many thanks, Clare
Posted by clare | November 16, 2009 11:53 PM
It is awful! I'm a professional translator and I had used Google Translate for a long time as a tool. The old look was much better. I liked the features and manoeuvrability. I won't use your 'new look' because the translations are way off and useless. I always opted for you before, but I'll now search amongst the competition.
Posted by Helene | November 17, 2009 12:38 AM
Yeah, Helene I couldnt agree more. the new look is useless if the translations are so far off they dont make any sense. Its lame.
Posted by Jason Mayer Studio | November 17, 2009 12:11 PM