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Google Translate has been helping people communicate for 20 years, and to celebrate the milestone, Google says it’s rolling out one of its “most requested features" by adding pronunciation practice.
Enter the phrase you want to translate, let the tool do the work, then press a button to speak it into your phone or tablet with your own pronunciation. It uses AI-powered analysis to listen to your speech and provides instant feedback.
If you get it right, it says, “Excellent, your speech was very clear,” but it will encourage you to try again if it believes there's room for improvement. The tool highlights what it thinks you could improve in a second attempt, and asks you to record again.
Pronunciation practice is launching exclusively for Android in the US, and at launch, it’s restricted to users in the US and India. At first, it's only available with translations between English, Hindi, and Spanish.
Google has yet to detail whether it will come to other devices or more languages, but we’d expect it to come to iPhone and desktop tools at a later date. Translate now covers almost 250 languages, so expect its practice tools to expand into many more in the future if it proves successful.
If your Android device is compatible, upgrade to the latest version of Translate and type a phrase or sentence. The bottom bar will show a Practice button; tap it to listen to the translated wording, then press the microphone button to speak aloud.
Alongside the announcement, Google shared some Translate facts and figures for its 20th anniversary. The tool first launched in April 2006, but it was far less complex, originally trained on United Nations and European Parliament transcripts to understand language differences.
Google says that over a billion users now interact with its Translate tools each month, translating over a trillion words.