These days, making yourself understood if Spanish is not your first language and your grasp of it is pretty poor or average is a lot easier than it used to be.
Before the Internet, mobile phone apps and tablets with built-in dictionaries or translating apps were invented, people had to get by as best they could with a few basic words, hand signals and drawings to communicate. Or they could, of course, take a translator with them to any appointment whether it be at the doctor’s, bank, or their child’s school etc.
Nowadays, you can often get away without having to lug a heavy dictionary with you to any appointment, or to translate everything that you think you might want to say and write it out the night before on a sheet of paper, and carry out any type of meeting or communication purely with the aid of your mobile phone or laptop.
These days there are apps that can translate as you talk or write, meaning that you can have a conversation with another person that doesn’t speak the same language as you, and you don’t have to do any of the hard work yourself!
Skype Translator
Skype Translator is brilliant. You can talk to family, friends and business associates across the globe with this app for your computer. Just switch the translator button on and the machine will instantly translate everything you and the recipient of your call or video call say. The app is currently available in 6 languages for voice calls: English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, and 50 different languages for instant messaging. Besides, you can save all the messages that appear in both languages, so that you can read them again and again.
For more info, visit: https://www.skype.com/en/features/skype-translator/
Modern Translator
This app allows you to carry out instant translations from your laptop or smartphone. There are more than 90 languages available and any phrase or text can be translated into your own. It also has text-to-speech technology, which means that you can copy and paste any text into the app and it will read it out for you in the chosen language. And, if that’s not enough, with the camera, just hover it over any sign, text or advert and it will translate what is under it. This app also includes a dictionary, with definitions, synonyms, examples and more. And if you don’t know how to say something, just ask Cortana, Microsoft’s virtual assistant, and it will tell you.
For more info: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/apps/modern-translator/9wzdncrcsg9k
iTranslate
This is probably the most popular translation app to date, with more than 50 million downloads. This app also uses text-to-speech technology, and you can even choose from a range of dialects and a male or female voice for when you hear the translation of your text. If you’re translating from Spanish to English, you could opt for a female Australian voice or a male Irish dialect, for example. The app provides you with recommendations as you are typing, you can copy and paste and you can scroll through previous saved translations and text offline. And if you don’t want to type, just speak into your phone and iTranslate will give you the equivalent in the language that you want.
For more info: http://itranslateapp.com/
Source: Microsoft Store
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