If you work with people who speak a foreign language, or you simply love to travel abroad, a language translation app can be one of the most important apps you can download. These days, there are lots of apps that can translate speech in real-time, and some that even let you translate text from a sign with your camera. Here is our list of the best translation apps you can download for free.
Microsoft Translator – Best App for Translating Text Messages
Microsoft Translator is a versatile translation tool that supports over 60 languages. It can simultaneously translate multiple languages that are a part of a single conversation. So, whether you’re in a multi-lingual meeting or part of an international chat group, this app can translate what everyone is saying on their respective phones.
This app can also translate text, photos, and speech in real-time. Microsoft Translator offers both consumer and enterprise versions.
Download: Google Play Store | Apple App Store
iTranslate Translator – Best App for Translating Dialects
The iTranslate Translator app lets you translate over 100 languages for free. It also comes with a dictionary and thesaurus for over 100 languages and offline translation for another 16 languages. You can even switch between different dialects, so you’ll be able to converse with locals anywhere.
The paid version lets you use your camera to translate signs, menus, and even images. It also lets you translate over 40 languages when you’re offline. Plus, it allows you to do voice-to-voice translations with either a male or female voice.
The iTranslate app is available for Android and iOS devices, as well as the Apple Watch.
Download: Google Play Store | Apple App Store
TextGrabber – Best App for Translating Text
TextGrabber is one of the best translation apps for reading street signs, electronic manuals, menus, and other text in another language, even if you’re not connected to the Internet. All you have to do is point your camera at any printed text, and the app will translate it in real-time. It recognizes more than 100 languages online and 10 languages offline.
Its Innovative Real-Time Recognition mode will digitize printed text directly on your mobile phone’s camera screen, even without you taking a photo of it. Plus, any email addresses, postal addresses, links, and phone numbers instantly become clickable. When you click on a link, you can instantly write an email, call a phone number, or find an address on your map apps.
The app also has a text-to-speech (TTS) capability, which translates text and copies it to your clipboard and then reads it aloud. Plus, any captured text can be edited, deleted, stored, or merged on your phone.
Download: Google Play Store | Apple App Store
Google Translate – Best All-Around Translator
It’s no wonder that Google Translate is one of the best language translation apps you can find. This app can automatically detect and translate more than 100 languages through text, voice, and even images. You can even translate 59 languages without an internet connection.
With the app’s Word Lens feature, you can instantly translate text from 37 languages when you point your camera at a sign. The conversation mode also has two-way instant speech translation in 32 languages.
And, if you are worried about getting lost in translation, Google has a neural machine translation engine, which allows the app to create more natural-sounding translations by analyzing entire phrases or sentences, rather than just translating individual words one at a time.
Download: Google Play Store | Apple App Store
With the best language translation apps, you can understand what anyone is saying, no matter what language they are speaking. However, if you want to learn another language, check out our list of the best free language learning apps here.