One of the most crucial decisions, when journeying to any new haven where the traveller is not in full command of his or her chosen destination’s local language, is the choice of app to do your translations for you. Selecting the correct translation app is of paramount importance since unintended insulting remarks could lead to a disastrous cultural faux pas that could lend the traveller in hot water or even in jail.
Google Play Store a smorgasbord of translation apps; however, because they vary greatly in accuracy and quality the apps under discussion below highlights the best in this category so that nothing is lost in translation (pun intended).
Language Translator, a free app from Clave Gandora performs the best when you require a quick translation. The developer created the app focusing on ease-of-use and such succeeded admirably, which also makes it a perfect match for beginners due to its simplistic interface. It offers only two translation formats, speaking and typing both of which deliver quick translation results. The interface provides relatively large control buttons with flags displayed next to them that make it easy to distinguish between languages, together with its large font size makes for quick reading of your translation. Any app achieving in excess of 1 million downloads that still manages to score a 4.4 rating by its users must be excellent.
PONS Online Dictionary provides a myriad of free apps as well as a number of paid ones. It is the best of its kind since it is essentially a dictionary featuring translation functions. It performs best when looking for an in-depth description on individual words, which can come in real handy since words can quite often have a variety of different meanings. PONS delivers a number of options displayed in its uncomplicated UI, with a descriptor as well as an indicator of word type use such as nouns and adjectives. It instantly translates and displays the translation in a split screen fashion next to the originating language, provides users with an improved understanding of each word in both the desired languages, which incidentally also makes it an excellent teaching tool.
With all that said, any user that requires a solid multifunction translator app would be wise to keep Google Translate on their phone’s back burner… Just in case!