Thanks to technology, if you’ve got a problem, there are probably a few apps to help with that. Some words and phrases don’t translate well. But for the rest, you can either travel with a translator or consider savvier ways to get your message across.
Here are a few language translation apps that should come in handy, whether you’re exploring a new country or trying to have a private conversation with someone who speaks a different language.
There are apps for that
International Mother Language Day is celebrated every year on 21 February when the world highlights the importance of celebrating its diverse languages and the benefits linked to more people speaking their mother tongue.
“The theme of the 24th edition of International Mother Language Day is ‘multilingual education – a necessity to transform education’. Thanks to these apps, you don’t need to be in a classroom to teach yourself a few useful languages
Google Translate offers more than a hundred languages on its translation platforms, including a few African languages. You’ll appreciate this if you live in South Africa with its 11 official languages. African languages on Google Translate include Afrikaans, Sesotho, Sepedi, Xhosa, Zulu, Yoruba, Shona, and Swahili. Google Translate is available on the web and Android or iOS devices. It’s great for casual chats but can also translate documents and entire websites.
According to Google Translate, this is what ‘Stuff‘ is in other languages.
iTransat is great for professional translations. So if you own a business, work in a company that’s multilingual, or if you’re a student, this can be handy. It also offers more than a hundred languages and is available on both Android and iOS.
Read More: Open G smartphone offers users voice control in up to 50 African languages
SayHi is great for actual conversations – as opposed to written translations. The app, available on Android and iOS, translates your spoken words.
“Just say something in your voice, and hear it played back to you in another language,” note its developers. If you don’t feel like speaking, you can type out what you want to say and pick between a male or female-sounding voice for translations.
Microsoft Translator works well for conversations between two people as well as conversations between groups. It also works well across multiple devices. If you’re chatting with a group of people, you can send participants a code that they can use to join the meeting. You can then talk in a language of your choice and the participants will hear you in their chosen languages on the other end.
More than 6,700 languages are spoken worldwide but at least 40% are threatened with extinction.
The classroom has a vital role to play in keeping them alive!@UNESCO is calling on countries to implement mother language-based education: https://t.co/8IndXt4Tsx #MotherLanguageDay pic.twitter.com/DvBEYzZZzl
— UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 (@UNESCO) February 20, 2023