How to Use Google Translate for Travel! (New Features Explained)

If you're traveling soon, you need to know about these new Google Translate features. What if I told you that your phone could instantly help you speak another language, and even better yet, actually learn a new language? Google Translate's newest updates do exactly that. Traveling to a new country can be exciting, but let's be real, it can also be intimidating when you don't speak the language. It can be challenging to navigate, order food, or the biggest bummer, not being able to connect with locals. Google Translate has always been a tool for us when we travel, but a lot has changed since we first started using it. So in today's video, I will teach you everything you need to know about this app, tools that will help you communicate faster, learn on the go, and connect with locals like never before. We no longer get intimidated by language barriers, and after watching this video, you will have the knowledge and tools so you don't either. Google Translate just announced two major updates, Live Translation and Customized Language Learning Capabilities. Starting with the Live Translation, you might be thinking just as we were, wasn't this already a feature? And yes, this was a feature, we used it a lot, and we really liked it. But supposedly, it now just got better. Now with this Live Translation, it is supported by Gemini AI models to help you have natural conversations in over 70 languages, and better voice recognition and speak recognition in loud environments like coffee shops and airports. We have found that we often use this Live Translate feature in high-stress situations like finding transportation or negotiating prices on a souvenir. So having seamless conversations in these stimulating environments is huge and relieves a lot of stress and potential for miscommunication. Let me show you how to use this Live Translate feature. It is probably the easiest feature to use, and in my opinion, is going to be the quickest way to translate something. So you're going to start by opening up Google Translate, and then in the bottom left-hand side of your screen, you're going to see a button that says Live Translate. You're going to click on that. And then you are going to be able to select your languages. For this example, we're going to leave it at Spanish and English. And then one other thing I like to do before I start using this feature is I like to change the format. So up in the right-hand side of the screen, you're going to see two buttons. You're going to see a setting button, and then right next to that, you're going to see another button. You're going to click on that. That's going to change the format. The reason I really like this format is because now we can hold the phone between me and the person I'm translating with or having a conversation with, and we can both see the phone and read things properly. So it's kind of like a split-screen format, which I really like. And from here, it's super easy. Anytime you want to speak, you just click on the blue microphone button and you start talking. For example, click on the blue microphone button. Where is the bathroom? I need to go really bad. Thank you. And then they will be prompted to respond, and you can have a conversation back and forth. It works really, really well. And I'm very curious to see how with these new updates, it works in really stimulating environments. The second update we have is customized language learning capabilities. This is very cool. And all I will say is Duolingo and other language learning apps might want to watch out. Nothing against those apps. I think they're great. I would just be curious to see what they think of this new update from Google. Because one big difference from this new Google update and other language learning apps is Google Translate is free. Before we do a deep dive into this language learning practice and show you the practical application of this new feature, let me show you and remind you of some of the other features that Google Translate has that I really like to use when I travel. Instant camera translation. This is a really powerful tool and is really great, but you kind of got to find the way you like to use it. So let me show you some different ways I like to use it. And hopefully this will help you. But in Google Translate, it's pretty simple. You open up Google Translate and in the bottom center, you're going to have a camera button that is going to pop open your camera. From there, you can just shine that camera over really anything you want and it'll translate it. The situations I use this the most in is menus or when we're at a cafe or coffee shop or even maybe a street food vendor. I'll just shine my translate over the menu and it'll give me a translation. So I have an example up here on my computer. This is just from a restaurant called Frida's that we went to in Guatemala. I didn't have like a Spanish menu or a foreign menu, so I'm just pulling it up online. But you can see here, as soon as I put my camera over the top of the menu, it will translate it into English. Now, another great feature of this camera portion is the ability to actually snap a photo of the menu, which is really nice because if you're at like a grab and go place, it's always really awkward to be like holding your phone up to the menu for an extended period of time that can be kind of annoying. And sometimes the translation can get messed up when your hand is moving around. So one way you can fix that is actually just snapping a photo. So you can see here, I can zero in on this one item here and I can snap a photo of it. From there, it'll kind of freeze frame it and you can translate it from there. One thing that I have found to be a little bit more difficult with the camera feature on Google Translate is when you have a... Say you're standing a little bit further back from the menu and you have a lot of menu items up on your screen, it can sometimes get a little bit confused and it can be hard to see the translation. So one way I like to do to get around that is I'll actually just open up my photo app and I'll take a photo of the menu. So you can see here, I have a wide view of the menu on my computer. But I'll take a photo of the menu and then I will like zoom in on my phone. I have an Apple phone and I will just copy and paste. I'll just copy and paste the portion that I want to translate. So I'll copy and paste this and then I'll go back into Google Translate and I'll just paste that text into Google Translate. So this I've found really helps when you're looking at a big menu and sometimes the camera can't pick up all the items, especially if you're standing at a weird angle or the lighting is weird. Also, then it shows up in your history, which is nice because sometimes when you order something or you translate something, you'll like instantly forget it. This way you can go back in your history and see what you just looked at. I mentioned history. So let me show you how to find that search history here in Google Translate because that can be really helpful. If you find yourself translating similar things, you can just go back to your history. Or like I said, if you're looking at a menu and there's an item you forgot about and want to look at again, you can go to your history to find it. So to find your history, you're just going to go up to the right hand side of the screen where your profile picture is. Go ahead and click on your profile picture and then right below your account, you're going to see a history button. Click on that. And that way you can see everything that you have recently translated. Now, if there's something that you find yourself translating a lot, I would also go ahead on the right hand side and click the save button. So say you want to save thank you in Spanish. I'm going to go ahead and click on the save button. What's really nice about that is when you go back to your home, you can see in the left hand side of your screen, there's going to be that save button in the corner. You can click on that and this is your phrasebook. And this is where you're going to want to save all the sayings, your common sayings that you want to refer back to. So it can be a really quick place to put things like, where's the bathroom, hello, thank you, in whatever language you plan to use. So oftentimes before a trip, what I'll do is I'll go into my phrasebook and I'll save very common sayings. OK, the last feature I wanted to mention before getting to my favorite new update and might be why you're still even watching this video. But before we get there, one last feature I want to mention that's really important is offline downloads. If you're going to listen to anything that I mentioned in today's video, downloading your language before you travel is so important. We have found so many times that when you need Google Translate the most, oftentimes you're in situations where you maybe don't have Wi-Fi and you don't have access to reliable data and you still need to be able to communicate. So downloading your language before you go is a really great way to prevent any potential issues and stress. And to download a language is super easy. You're going to go ahead and just click on the languages in the bottom and all the languages are going to pull up and you're just going to see like an arrow or download button to the left of each language. And you can just click download and download any language that you want for offline use. So again, click on Spanish, download Spanish, and then you will be good to go for the rest of your trip Communicating via Google Translate, even when you don't have internet access, really important. Don't forget to do this one. Finally, now for the new feature that has me most excited. Practice. I've always been jealous of people who can travel and speak multiple languages, but let's be honest, learning a new language can be hard, time consuming, and very overwhelming. This new practice feature on Google Translate might help with that. So let me show you. In the bottom right hand corner, you should now see a button or feature called practice. And when you go ahead and click on that practice feature, it is going to start by prompting you a few questions, starting with what language do you want to learn? Then it's going to ask you what level you want to start at, basic, intermediate, or advanced. So if you already know a little bit of the language, you can start at a different level, but I would assume most people are going to be starting at basic. Then it's going to ask you to describe a goal. So maybe in my case, I'm going to Guatemala, and I want to learn how to better speak with my Airbnb host. So I'm going to go ahead and plug in that specific goal. And then it is going to formulate a plan for me to start learning some vocabulary and learn how to speak. Once you set your goal, it's going to bring you to your main dashboard. And let's walk through what we're looking at here. So to be honest, when I first opened this up, it was a little confusing, but after using it for a few days, it's a lot more simple than it looks. But starting at the top of your screen, based on the description of your goal, it's going to give you goals. So you can see on mine here, it gave me three different goals, communicate with my Airbnb host, practice greetings and simple conversations, and handle basic travel interactions. That is all based on what I initially put in. Now you can see underneath that you can add a new goal. So say over time you want to add a new goal, you can go ahead and add that in there. Right below that, you're going to see your daily activities. Every day, it is going to give you three activities. And then you can also see the words that I have already practiced. So over the last couple of days I've been practicing, I've learned 32 words so far, and they compile all those words in a word list, which is actually really nice because I can always go back and refresh my memory with the words that I have already learned. Then below that, it is going to give you various scenarios to practice for the day. So you can see ask directions to the Airbnb, ask about breakfast, ask where to leave the key. These are all scenarios that are pretty common in a travel environment. Right below there, we have a practice scenario. So you can kind of create your own scenario. So say, for example, you're going to be doing a trek and you want to get good at asking, how far do we have left hiking for the day? You could create a scenario, create your own scenario, and practice it, which is kind of nice. And then they have a bunch more scenarios. But to be honest with you, I usually just stick to the daily ones that they give me each day. So let me show you an example of what this looks like. So let's just do the first one here. And what I actually like to do first is look at the word list. This is not something I did initially when I started practicing, but it helps to get familiar with the words before you start practicing the scenario, in my opinion. So I click on the word list, and this is the words that are going to be showing up in this scenario. But when you feel like you've got a good look over the words, then I will go to the practice button. Now click practice. And then you have two choices. You can either practice your listening or your speaking. Let me show you what listening looks like to start. So listening, click start. And then it'll give you a phrase. So you'll click play, and then you have to recognize the words that you hear. So let's listen to this first one. And obviously, I'm not very good at it because I got two wrong, but it'll tell you what you get wrong. And then you can click into the next round. But let me show you what a speaking one looks like. So let's do a speaking one. So I just went back. I'm going to do a speaking one. And then I'm going to respond by saying what it says on the screen so you can practice saying. So I'll click the blue microphone when I'm ready to say it, and I will say it. So let's give this one a try. Don't judge me. And you click pause. Now, if you're getting really good at this, you can actually hide the hints. So you can hide the hints by clicking this kind of light bulb and click off. And then you're expected to just respond, which if you're new to a language, this is obviously not going to be possible, but is something once you get better, you can practice more. And once you learn more vocabulary, you can try without the hints. But for me, I'm still a hints on type of guy. Remember, this is a beta experience. So the app is still kind of under construction. They're still making adjustments. And right now you only have access to two languages, English, Spanish, and French. So hopefully we'll get more very soon. Also, after testing it for a few more days, I've noticed that it would be really nice to have another level. Now you can see on their app here, there's going to be another level called just starting, but we don't have access to that quite yet. So hopefully when you try this out, you'll have access to it. But right now I would love to have that as I'm finding even the basic to be a little bit challenging. Now, I think this new practice feature is a game changer for quite a few reasons. The first being a deeper connection while traveling. It's going to allow you to connect with the locals in a way that you maybe wouldn't have if you didn't take a few days to practice a bit of the language basics. In our experience, if you can even just try a little bit to learn some of the local language, you're going to have experiences and memories that you otherwise wouldn't have had. Second, learning a language is really overwhelming and this creates a very specific plan based on your goals. So that way you're not wasting any of your time learning stuff that you might not actually use. And the last reason this might be a game changer for you is that it's free, which is so nice. So if you have Google Translate, you have access to this. And I would probably imagine I will be using this most, probably a week or two before I travel. And that way I can refresh on basic sayings in the local language. Let me know down in the comments, have you tried this new practice feature on Google Translate? If so, let me know what you think about it. If not, I would highly recommend giving it a try. So you have all the knowledge you need to get the most out of Google Translate, which might just be one of the most powerful travel tools to support connection. Traveling to new places should be exciting, not stressful. With these Google Translate tools and updates, you can focus on enjoying the journey instead of worrying about communication all the time. And don't forget to download the language you plan to use before you go. You will be able to travel with a lot more confidence. So don't forget that. If you enjoyed this video though, I would also recommend checking out the video I made about how to find cheap flights on Google Flights. If you're someone that likes to travel and likes to save a bit of money, that's a great video to watch. If you enjoyed this one though, please, please, please give it a thumbs up as well as subscribe to our channel for more content like this. We will see you in the next video.