TechCrunch - Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 2:00 PM
Google Assistant will soon be able to translate conversations on-the-fly with
‘Interpreter Mode’
Google<https://crunchbase.com/organization/google> Assistant has long been able
to do quick, one-off translations — just say something like “Hey Google, how do
I say ‘birthday’ in French?”
That doesn’t help much with actual conversations between people who speak
different languages. For that, Google is building what they call “Interpreter
Mode.”
If you speak English and want to have a conversation with someone who primarily
speaks French, for example, you would trigger Interpreter Mode by saying “Hey
Google, be my French interpreter.”
From there, the translation happens in both directions. Speak English, wait a
second, and Google Home will repeat what you said but in French. When your
friend responds, their French will be repeated back as English. It’ll work in
27 languages at launch.
Interpreter Mode will come first to Google Home speakers and smart displays
like the Google Home Hub, the latter of which will also show you the text of
your translated conversation on-the-fly.
It’ll be a fun trick in the home, but Google largely sees this being useful in
retail or customer service. A hotel, for example, could place a smart display
at the concierge desk, using it to better help their guests from around the
world.
They’re rolling out a test run in a few different Vegas hotels at CES this week
and it’ll roll out to everyone else after — though, as Google likes to do,
they’re not getting super-specific about launch dates.
[CES 2019 coverage - TechCrunch]<https://techcrunch.com/tag/ces-2019>
https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/08/google-assistant-will-soon-be-able-to-act-as-your-interpreter/
David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist
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