Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Introducing the Google Translate app for iPhone

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog and Google Translate Blog.)

Back in August 2008, we launched a Google Translate HTML5 web app for iPhone users. Today, the official Google Translate for iPhone app is available for download from the App Store. The new app has all of the features of the web app, plus some significant new additions designed to improve your overall translation experience.

Speak to translate
The new app accepts voice input for 15 languages, and—just like the web app—you can translate a word or phrase into one of more than 50 languages. For voice input, just press the microphone icon next to the text box and say what you want to translate.



Listen to your translations
You can also listen to your translations spoken out loud in one of 23 different languages. This feature uses the same new speech synthesizer voices as the desktop version of Google Translate we introduced last month.



Full-screen mode
Another feature that might come in handy is the ability to easily enlarge the translated text to full-screen size. This way, it’s much easier to read the text on the screen, or show the translation to the person you are communicating with. Just tap on the zoom icon to quickly zoom in.


And the app also includes all of the major features of the web app, including the ability to view dictionary results for single words, access your starred translations and translation history even when offline, and support romanized text like Pinyin and Romaji.

You can download Google Translate now from the App Store globally. The app is available in all iOS supported languages, but you’ll need an iPhone or iPod touch iOS version 3 or later.

Posted by Wenzhang Zhu, Software Engineer
at

47 comments:

  1. AndroTuxFebruary 8, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    Why are you going to support iPhone? Apple also does not support Google. Please.. stop that ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ted AveryFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:02 AM

    The app does not appear in the Canadian app store.

    ReplyDelete
  3. sites.google.com/site/3dslovakia - Norbert ChromekFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:19 AM

    heey "AndroidChromeOS" SHUT UP! I think it´s super that is google doing apps for iphone (i dont have iphone), I am proud to google! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. AlfonsoFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:22 AM

    Beautiful! now we need the Gmail app ;)

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  5. Caio R. N. PereiraFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:23 AM

    Downloaded by opening the link on my iPhone.

    @caiornp

    ReplyDelete
  6. Caio R. N. PereiraFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:25 AM

    We are just missing the functionality to take a picture of something, do OCR, and translate it! Almost like the babel fish...

    @caiornp

    ReplyDelete
  7. jmchattonFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:31 AM

    This should definitely be ported to webOS. Porting from iOS to webOS only takes a few hours, and it would be great to see this app in webOS!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Baishakh MishraFebruary 8, 2011 at 12:28 PM

    Awesome. Nice app on for iPhone. Please bring GMail,Google Docs native for iPhone.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jason HansenFebruary 8, 2011 at 1:49 PM

    Awesome! My Google folder is still missing a native Google Talk app! Please...

    ReplyDelete
  10. AkinityFebruary 8, 2011 at 1:53 PM

    Superb transliteration in both English and Japanese. Much stronger than Dragon.
    Translation is poor in either direction.
    Text to voice is pretty good for both languages.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Paul EcclesFebruary 8, 2011 at 2:23 PM

    @AndroidChromeOS, Apple does support Google. Google is the default search engine for Safari on Mac and iPhone. On a Mac you can right-click on any word and search it in Google, system-wide. Apple use Google for their maps service too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ericFebruary 8, 2011 at 3:22 PM

    I'm impressed, congratulations to the team!

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownFebruary 8, 2011 at 3:22 PM

    SpeechTrans iPhone app uses Nuance and is 95% accurate in Speech Recognition, unlike Google's 60% Speech Recognition Accuracy. If you want to magically be able to speak multiple languages check out www.SpeechTrans.com or search for SpeechTrans on the App store. SpeechTrans also has Facebook Chat Integration so you can speak to people across the world in different languages through Facebook!

    ReplyDelete
  14. DeenFebruary 8, 2011 at 4:12 PM

    OK that makes a lot of sense dude, Wow.

    www.anon-tools.tk

    ReplyDelete
  15. Josh CentersFebruary 8, 2011 at 7:32 PM

    Thanks for the app, it works great! Glad to see Google supporting the iPhone. Few other tech companies would develop so many apps for a competitor's platform. That's part of what makes Google awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  16. NickFebruary 8, 2011 at 8:14 PM

    Google, you should consider adding Dari and Pashtu to the supported languages. I realize that Arabic and Farsi are already on the list, but the vast majority of Afghans don't speak either of those languages. This app could be extremely useful to deployed military members, or anyone else in Afghanistan who doesn't speak the languages. Please consider this for your next update.

    ReplyDelete
  17. NickFebruary 8, 2011 at 8:16 PM

    Google, you should consider adding Dari and Pashtu to the supported languages. I realize that Arabic and Farsi are already on the list, but the vast majority of Afghans don't speak either of those languages. This app could be extremely useful to deployed military members, or anyone else in Afghanistan who doesn't speak the languages. Please consider this for your next update.

    ReplyDelete
  18. UnknownFebruary 8, 2011 at 10:39 PM

    I support google as well for developing apps (any software really) for other devices, even if they don't respond in kind, and think they should be commend for offering so many services at either low cost or no cost. Dont know if everyone has seen the google voice apps as well... if you haven't you should check it out. Way to go Google!

    B Rob
    My home, where I can rant and rave about nohing

    ReplyDelete
  19. UnknownFebruary 8, 2011 at 10:47 PM

    Amazing! So much power -- and it's free. Thank you. Just wondering, is this based on the original meta-language developed by NASA for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975?

    ReplyDelete
  20. UnknownFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:02 PM

    i love this app. thank you google.
    great job...i love google. if i don't have google i am lost from this planet. i have GV GMAIL

    ReplyDelete
  21. Pau SanchezFebruary 9, 2011 at 1:30 AM

    Here comes an idea:
    Add a new display mode in which you display the camera, so if you point the mobile to the person that is talking, it will be like watching subtitles on a movie.

    It will not be a great feature from the technical perspective (since seems quite easy now that you have speech recognition and translation) but it will be engaging.

    It would also be easy to add subtitles in different colors according to different voices.

    This is just an idea I wanted to share ;)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Massachusetts Forecloser LawyerFebruary 9, 2011 at 2:03 AM

    Awesome.Superb transliteration in both English and Japanese. Much stronger than Dragon.i love this app. thank you google.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Harsh9February 9, 2011 at 6:52 AM

    i love google.. true open source

    ReplyDelete
  24. UnknownFebruary 9, 2011 at 8:29 AM

    Unless I'm missing it, it seems like there's no easy to way to take the translation and put it into an email, SMS, etc.. Dragon Dictation does a good job of that, but clearly this will eventually make that app obsolete.. Is that functionality to come??

    ReplyDelete
  25. UnknownFebruary 9, 2011 at 10:41 AM

    With the audio capability , I see this as the beginnings of what will eventually grow to become a technological babelfish. This will make our world smaller and I implore google to invest heavily in enabling the audio aspects of this technology so most languages are supported. This is the future ! If only the technology was widely for our troops years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  26. UnknownFebruary 9, 2011 at 3:10 PM

    Google Translate app does not even start on iPhone 3GS with iOS 4.2. What's wrong????

    ReplyDelete
  27. dom9360February 9, 2011 at 4:16 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  28. dom9360February 9, 2011 at 4:18 PM

    One of Google's best apps. And, it's free! A nice addition would be for the app to capture words from a picture and translate. To "iphone" or "android" haters: I believe Google does a fair job at mixing and matching where it chooses to release an app first.

    ReplyDelete
  29. TarakFebruary 9, 2011 at 10:25 PM

    Good to know about the Google app on iPhone. Its amazing, should conquer all hardware platforms!! Google rocks

    ReplyDelete
  30. UnknownFebruary 9, 2011 at 10:58 PM

    Google Translate fails to start on iPhone 4. When will you fix?????

    ReplyDelete
  31. NPFebruary 10, 2011 at 2:14 AM

    Ummm, why does the iphone version use TTS from the google host/desktop side and the other translate versions (Android) use local TTS that sucks... Google please correct this!

    ReplyDelete
  32. tibsterFebruary 10, 2011 at 6:50 AM

    Good thing it is free since it will not start on the iPhone 4...

    ReplyDelete
  33. YgorFebruary 10, 2011 at 9:06 AM

    Very good
    Need create a official Blogger app for iOS =D

    ReplyDelete
  34. santosh_mankalaFebruary 10, 2011 at 1:12 PM

    when can we this for black berry

    ReplyDelete
  35. JoseFebruary 10, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    Is there a way to have this on the web, in Windows? Many of us cannot just afford an Iphone right now.
    I'd love to have that functionality in my laptop.

    ReplyDelete
  36. UnknownFebruary 11, 2011 at 12:54 AM

    Everybody with an iphone seems happy with this app.
    So, when will we see a version for the android machines?

    ReplyDelete
  37. TarakFebruary 11, 2011 at 4:11 AM

    Yes, Android on iPhone will be tremendous. Waiting for that..

    ReplyDelete
  38. FreyahFebruary 11, 2011 at 5:41 AM

    well for me a big round of applause. HAs sense! I think it's a big help:)

    My Phone Number

    ReplyDelete
  39. SiminFebruary 11, 2011 at 6:02 AM

    impressed, congratulations to the team

    http://newmobileall.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  40. waqasFebruary 11, 2011 at 11:48 AM

    nice dear...

    premium link generator servers list.

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    ReplyDelete
  41. KashifFebruary 11, 2011 at 2:49 PM

    It's Amazing Technology.

    2lix.com

    ReplyDelete
  42. Сергей КозичFebruary 12, 2011 at 1:55 AM

    super!
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    ReplyDelete
  43. عائض بن عوض القحطانيFebruary 12, 2011 at 2:05 PM

    Guys

    Arabic is important too!

    where is it? it suppose to be input language...

    Thank you Google. I know that you will do it.

    ReplyDelete
  44. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2011 at 1:15 AM

    Android, here I come! (Just dumped nokia after "the merger")

    ReplyDelete
  45. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2011 at 1:18 AM

    hey, does any1 here knw how to hack hotmail or gmail password?? Plz tell... :'(

    ReplyDelete
  46. Urvashi SharmaFebruary 18, 2011 at 10:10 PM

    Adroid solutions


    http://free-ebooks10.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  47. Lars SorensenFebruary 19, 2011 at 9:08 AM

    What I don't understand is this. Why does the iPhone app offer more spoken languages, and more languages for voice input than the Android version? When can we expect to see an update on the Android?

    ReplyDelete

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