richardic Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 I am in the final planning stages of a trip through France, Spain, Portugal and Italy and this is going to test my linguistic abilities more than a bit! Has anyone any experience of the electronic translators that are on the market. It seems that you type in a phrase and the unit translates it for you into a number of Eurpoean languages. There are also some which take voice inputs and speak the reply with the appropriate accent! Any views would be appreciated. (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel E Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 No direct recent direct experience, but they used to be awful. Try the Babelfish translation website at: http://tinyurl.com/37he which is one of the very best. To get a good idea of how good they are, type in some converstional English (e.g., the argument you just had with your neighbour about lat night's party!), and translate it into one of your target languages. Then copy and paste the translation into the 'from' box and translate it back into English. You'll soon see the limitations of these systems. Why not then do the same thing with your target device? Mel E ==== Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrytraveller Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Hi Richard, I always carry the electronic translator with me, bought from Argos a few years ago. It can be really handy and funny when trying to converse with MH'ers from all over Europe, when there's no common language. I was talking with a German, Frenchman and a chap from Holland on an Aires in Brittany, it took over an hour just to sort out the weather forcast (lol) Regards Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardic Posted April 11, 2007 Author Share Posted April 11, 2007 Thanks Mel I had thought of this but was thinking more of translating in restaurants and shops etc which needed something a bit morep ortable regards Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardic Posted April 11, 2007 Author Share Posted April 11, 2007 Thanks Terry, I am encouraged by your experience of this type of device so will probably give it a go - they are not that expensive anyway regards Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrytraveller Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 Have Fun Richard - Regards Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest starspirit Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 I've just bought one from Argos for £14.99 and early indications are that it might be handy as it is very compact, easy to use, covers 15 languages (but not Welsh), translates either way and even does currency and clock. We shall see? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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