Google Translate, Google’s nifty tool for converting text between 51 different languages, has added some new features including speech and instant, real-time translation. It’s turning into a real babel fish (sorry Alta Vista)…
Type complex words into the Google Translate text box and it’ll show their roots. It’s also added a new feature to help English speakers pronounce and read non-roman languages like Chinese and Japanese.
In Google Translate, you simply click show romanization and you’ll be given a phonetic version of the phrase. Arabic, Persian and Hindi also have a new feature that allows you to type out how words sound and see them converted into native script. It’s not perfect but it’s still pretty impressive.
Best of all though, Google’s added text-to-speech support for English translations to Google Translate. Click the speaker icon and you’ll hear the translation. Watch the video above for Google’s explanation of the new features in Google Translate.
Google could soon be on a roll when it comes to releasing new services with both Google Chrome for Mac OS X and Google Chrome OS promised imminently.
Out now | £free | Google Translate
This is a landmark move, I reckon. I hope Google keeps on refining its translation tools, as this could become incredibly powerful over time, especially when it comes to email and IM.