Google today announced a host of new translation-related features at its Live from Paris event, including improved contextual search, a redesigned iOS app, and seamless AR translation functionality through Google Lens.
The search giant improves contextual translation in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. This means that words and phrases with multiple meanings will be translated according to the context of the text. It’s a great way to make sure your sentence sounds natural and you’re using idiomatic words. It works a bit like Linguee and Reverso Context.
It can also be useful to avoid using an offensive or hateful meaning of a sentence when you are not fluent in a language. Google said this update will roll out in the coming weeks and support more languages in the coming months.
Picture credits: Google
Last year, the company updated the Google Translate Android app with a new design that followed the “Material You” design system. Now it brings new features and updated user interface to the iOS app. The updated app features a large microphone button in the bottom center so users can easily input text by voice. The iOS app also introduces a dynamic font that makes translations more readable as you type. Plus, the redesign makes it easier to choose languages with less tapping.
Plus, the redesigned app adds gestures like swiping down to access recent translations and holding the language button to quickly choose a recently used language.
Picture credits: Google
The iOS app also recently added offline translation support for 33 new languages, including Basque, Corsican, Hawaiian, Hmong, Kurdish, Latin, Luxembourgish, Sundanese, Yiddish and Zulu.
Last September, Google introduced a new translation capability that seamlessly integrates real-world translated text into the background image. This means that if you translate a poster written in another language, it will not be moved. The company is now rolling out this capability to Android phones with 6GB of RAM or more.
Apart from that, Google also announced the global launch of multi-search along with enhancements for Maps including immersive views in five new cities and the expansion of the quick wayfinding feature to all users.
