Google Translate adds 20 more languages, makes voice translation faster and smoother

Google Translate has received an update, adding 20 more languages. Now users can instantly translate up to 27 languages, making the program available to a wider audience. The update also makes real-time voice translation a lot faster and smoother. These updates are coming to both Android and iOS, rolling out over the next few days.

The new languages that users can now translate to are Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian. These can also be translated from English. You can also do one-way translations from English to Hindi and Thai.

Google says that for users to try out the new languages, they need to go to the Google Translate app, set the from language to “English” along with the language they want to translate to and click the camera button. The user will be prompted to download a 2 MB language pack for each language.

Read more: Memeburn’s 3-minute look at the updated Google Translate app

Google’s image to text translation features currently supports 37 languages.

Google Translate is an impressive app and coupled with the fact that it works offline gives it an edge above any other translate app out there.

“If you live in an area with unreliable mobile networks, our other update today is for you,” Google says.

Even with the additional added languages, Google Translate is looking to add more. Often languages of minorities have faced extinction but with inventions like Google Translate, those languages can be preserved, not only to a certain few but to the entire world.

With the help of its community, the app has so far managed to translate 100 million words.

Considering that there are so many languages in the world, Google Translate has a long road ahead of itself. Africa alone has an estimated 1500-2000 languages. This excludes the many dialects that exist. Google is aware of this and states that it will tackle this momentous task bit by bit.

“We’ve still got lots of work to do: more than half of the content on the Internet is in English, but only around 20% of the world’s population speaks English. Today’s updates knock down a few more language barriers.”

At face value, the app might seem like another one of those fancy apps that exist because people can make them, but if one thinks of the access to information for people who cannot understand English, suddenly it becomes one of the few apps that are needed.

Read more: Microsoft reveals Skype Translate: a real time voice interpreter