Before there were smartphones that you take around when you’re in a foreign country, we used to bring around physical phrasebooks in order to help you communicate with the locals. It has now come sorta full circle as the latest update to the Microsoft Translator app includes the addition of digital phrasebooks that will help you find the phrase or sentence you’re looking for to translate in the local language of the place you’re visiting. The app also now includes a bilingual dictionary which can help you be more specific in the word you’re looking for in a new language you’re learning.
Having a phrasebook on your smartphone is a pretty convenient way to attempt to communicate with the locals in the place you’re visiting, if you’re not fluent in their language. Sometimes, you immediately need phrases or sentences in a specific situation and there’s no time to learn it or memorize it. The phrasebook is a handy way of dealing with that situation. You look for the phrase you need and either display it on the screen for them to read or you can even play the words aloud, if the language is supported by the app’s text to speech technology. You can also share the translation on your social media or other apps.
Meanwhile, the bilingual dictionary is more helpful if you’re trying to learn another language. It has alternative translations to or from English, because there are some words that have slightly different meanings, and so you need to see all the other alternatives in order to translate it properly. But because the feature uses “a significant amount of parallel language data”, it is now only available to or from English.
You can update your Microsoft Translator app through its Google Play page to enjoy these two new features. It joins other already existing ones like translating typed or spoken text, translating images directly from your camera or saved images, downloading full language packs so you can still use it when offline, and other features.
SOURCE: Microsoft
