In the early days of Google’s  translation app, “Google Translate,” copying and pasting foreign text into the app was the only way to decipher a language, and an inconveniencing one at that. In  May 2016, that trouble became obsolete with Google Translate’s “Tap to Translate” feature, which extends to any app that allows copying and pasting.

Instead of switching between apps, one can simply copy text in their app and then a Google Translate icon will appear, prompting one to translate whatever they have stored to their clipboard.  As with any app of this kind, the translation is not always very accurate and it may come across in broken English. From experience, attempting to translate something multiple times can yield different translations, some more comprehensible than others.

This quick translation feature also works offline. To enable the offline language packages, simply open the Google Translate app, tap the three bars in the upper left for options, and select “Offline translation” from the choices listed.  Once there, a list of available to download languages will appear alongside the languages you already possess. You can also translate text messages here in the app in addition to utilizing the tap to translate feature in a messaging app.

Another useful component of the upgraded Google Translate is its “Word Lens” feature, which performs visual translations and now has a Chinese extension. Once in the app, tap the camera button beneath the translation box, which will bring up your camera in app. After this, just point and hold your mobile device at whatever foreign language you need translated, be it a sign or a menu. The app will attempt to align the words as best as it can while translating. After aligning the text, click the camera button to take a picture. The app will scan the image, searching for the text it needs to translate, before bringing up the translated image. On the translated image, you can highlight words and phrases to see their respective meanings.

Both the “Tap to Translate” and the “Word Lens” feature work quickly and on Android devices above Jellybean (Android 4.2). For  iOS devices, the tap to translate feature requires an additional jailbreak.

For more information about Google Translate and its new features, check out Google’s blog or help page.

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Christina Van Otterloo is a summer intern for Voy. She is pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in anthropology at Arizona State University. After graduating she hopes to be a cultural journalist, educating all ages about various cultures and lifestyles both abroad and stateside. She enjoys learning about different cultures, studying languages, and listening to others’ experiences. Born in India, she was adopted into a Dutch family and raised in a Dutch community. Growing up in an ethnically-uniform bubble led her to explore cultural diversity through means such as television shows, video games, and books. College provided more cultural insight through friends and classes, which encouraged her to write for the sake of cultural awareness. Christina has traveled to many different states in America as well as China and Canada abroad. Her pastimes revolve around manga and foreign music. She currently resides in Modesto, California.

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