I have seen many translation tools but most of them had issues. Normally the script works in a manner which does the translation directly by taking the words. It happens for complexed languages mostly.
@Michael -- I get lost even with the GPS because the instructions aren't clear enough sometimes, or given to me early enough. I have no sense of direction.
There's no need to get down on technology just because we lean on it -- it doesn't make sense for someone to spend a lot of time and energy into learning language or locations when they're only going to be there once or twice.
And to counter-point, the technology helps people with some sort of grasp of what they're doing perform better. I find that even when I'm familiar with a route, the GPS can help alert me to turns coming up when my vision is obscured by weather or a huge truck.
Something I use in my regular life is to ask people, after I already asked them something, if they were sure of their answer or if they have a wild-guess, or how certain are they.
Google Translate should have a way of letting us know when its throwing a wild guess.
I've tried with google translate too before and although it wasn't bad, some translations were quite comical and could really make you look crazy to strangers. It great if the listening app is at least a bit more accurate.
I used to use them a while back when I took language classes in school and luckily I took the opportunity to proof read the translations before I used them as real answers. Some of the stuff was just comical when translated word for word.
Maria, Joanne, a lot can be said for face to face contact with the people you meet while travelling rather than looking down constantly fumbling with a handheld device. A good case can be made that when travelling for pleasure if you can totally divorce yourself from work/family concerns that the only battery powered device that makes any sense is a minature flashlight.
A few years ago my wife and I used Google Translate when negotiating the purchase of a zither from an individual in Austria. ( No, it is difficult to get a decent zither at a reasonable price in this country, believe me. ) Even with a popular well structured language like German when it came down to music terminology, Google Translate did not do well.
I too love to travel to exotic places where i don't know the language, or the geography, with a work deadline looming, and have to get along by my wits -- and body language.
I've picked up a smattering of over a dozen languages along the way, learned to sound out a bunch of different alphabets (my favorites are Georgian and Korean), and hitched rides on military airplanes, helicopters, tanks, boats, cop cars, on horseback, with farmers, with guerilla fighters, with truckers, with politicians, and everything and everyone in between.
Having translation tools in place, or, increasingly, meeting up with people who already know English, does take some of the excitement out of travel.
But while these tools simply make travel easier for adrenalin-junkies like me, the more important thing is that they actually make travel possible for a wider range of non-crazy people.
And they allow people to break away from their tour groups and go off on their own and explore.
I am not ready to use these toools in a presentation but I can promise you I have needed and appreciated them on many a trip to a forgign nation with taxi drivers, store clerks and restaurants. I believe the technology has a ways to go before being fully usable in a commercial presentation setting but they are handy!
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