Learning a new language is hard work, especially if you’ve been raised in the U.S., which tends to eschew any real multi-lingual literacy.
These days, however, Google Translate lets us all communicate a little more easily across language barriers.
A new update for the app today brings both Split View support for newer iPads along with new instant visual translation languages.
The world just got a little friendlier.
Photo: Google
Split View, a new feature for the iPad Air 2 running iOS 9, lets you bring up two apps next to each other and use them simultaneously. Now, if you’re iMessaging with someone in a supported language, you can just pull up Messages in one panel and Google Translate in the other for smooth, simultaneous translation without having to bounce back and forth between two apps any more. It even works with text from online books or websites, so you can pop open a Safari site in one pane and Translate in the other with ease.
Instant visual translations have been around since Google bought WordLens last year. With the new update, in addition to English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, you can translate to and from Arabic as well.
Instant visual translation is spooky cool – you just open the app, click on the camera and point it at the text in the real world you want translated. It will transform to your native language in real-time on your iPhone screen without even needing Wi-Fi or cell data. How’s that for awesome?
Source: Google Blog
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
