How to Use the iOS Translation App Like a Pro

Learn a new language and have a conversation the easy way

Now that the Covid-19 vaccine is around the corner, leisure travel and tourism is set for a triumphant comeback. The Apple Translate app released with iOS 14 is a handy tool with features like voice translation, offline translations and conversation mode — you get the essentials to avoid miscommunication as you get out and into the wild once again.

Like most of Apple’s utility apps this one contains the essentials; let’s call it utalitarian: It avoids superfluous features. It’s competitor, the Google Translate app does have one advantage and a pretty good one — the ability to take a snapshot of a document and translate it on the fly (Whaaat?). Since Apple has released one of its own, the market must be juicy, so let’s get started.

Translating text using the simple interface

Whether you’re studying French, German or Russian, it’s super easy to translate to English, just launch the app and type, or talk:

Most of the tools you’ll use are available on startup.

1. Tap the Translate app icon to launch it.
2. Select the two languages to translate.
3. Tap on the Enter text field to type, or tap the Microphone button and say the word or phrase you want to translate.
4. When the translation is finished, you have these options:
   ● Replay the translation by tapping the Play button.
   ● Bookmark the translation as a favorite by tapping the Favorites button.
   ● Go old school and look up a word by selecting it and tapping the Dictionary button.
   ● You can also select any word in a phrase to display its meaning.
   ● Tap and drag up the drawer handle to reveal more definitions.

The Dictionary can be opened by tapping any word in the translation as well.

When a word or phrase is underlined, tap it to reveal more suggestions.

The Favourites list comes in handy if you have commonly used phrases, like dietary preferences to access them quickly. All bookmarked phrases or words can be accessed by tapping the Favourites tab at the bottom.

One of the best translation apps for travel

Tilt the screen sideways to enter Conversation Mode. This feature allows you to select two languages and speak back and forth with another party. The only caveat is that you must speak at a steady pace and emphasize pronunciations, otherwise the app will use the closest word it recognizes.

To give you an idea how valuable this feature is, imagine speaking to a waiter, ticket agent, bus boy, police officer or any emergency personnel and you’ll understand why this feature is amazingly simple to use, and useful.

The high-contrast screen isolates important messages with voice playback available.

1. Flip your iPhone on its side.
2. Tap the Microphone button and speak.
3. Tap the Pause button to freeze the screen and read the text.
4. Tap the Play button to listen or play back the translation.

Offline translation and Automatic Detection

The iOS Translation app lets you download languages for offline use. They do take up memory space, but you won’t have to worry being left to fend for yourself when your iPhone is out of range from a cell tower, or if you’re in a jungle, a desert, or simply stuck with an unreliable service provider.

You can choose from 11 languages to download and translate:

Arabic
Chinese (Mandarin)
English (US)
French (France)
German (Germany)
Italian (Italy)
Japanese
Korean
Portuguese (Brazil)
Russian
Spanish (Spain)

Automatic Language Detection enables jumping into conversations quickly.

1. Tap on either Language Selector button.
2. Tap the Download button to store the language on your iPhone.
3. Tap Done.
4. To delete the stored language swipe left > tap the Delete button.

While on this screen you can also switch Automatic Detection to On or Off. This lets your iPhone detect what language either person is speaking:

1. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and toggle Automatic Detection On or Off.
2. Tap Done.

Tip: One last item that you won’t find in other tutorials is that you can also use voice dictation as you speak into the microphone. For more information on how to use Apple Dictation, check out my tutorial on this topic.

The following screenshots demonstrate how a typical conversation might look like, while you are using the app in a foreign country:

How to improve the iOS Translation app

Apple has a lot of catching up to do with this app, but as more and more people regain the confidence to travel for leisure, there are enough features inside to pave the way for productive conversations across time zones, just speak clearly and at a good even pace — plus, if you want to make this the best translation app for iPhone, let Apple know how much you like it, and request that they expand its features. If you still don’t have the app, simply update your software to the latest release, version 14.2 as of this article.

Joseph Cael Rogue | Rogue Script LLC