Google Translate Offline

[John Finn]

Android users should know that they can download the Spanish (or any other) language pack on the Google Translate app. It can prove very useful if your Spanish is a bit rusty or non-existent and you will not incur expensive data charges. This is how to do it:

https://support.google.com/translate/answer/6142473?hl=en-GB

 

[wayfarer]

Nice one, thank you John.

 

[jmcarp]

It appears to only be available for Android devices.

 

[marbuck]

Because it is a Google product.

 

[Magwood]

Any suggestions for a iPhone?

 

[GettingThere]

It appears to only be available for Android devices.

No, Google Translate is available for iPhone too - just go to the App Store.

 

[jayree]

No, Google Translate is available for iPhone too - just go to the App Store.

Google translate works well on the iPhone with a WiFi connection but the Spanish language pack for offline translation is only available for the Android phone. Jibbigo was a great offline translator for the iPhone but after the app was bought by Facebook it disappeared.

 

[GettingThere]

Google translate works well on the iPhone with a WiFi connection but the Spanish language pack for offline translation is only available for the Android phone. Jibbigo was a great offline translator for the iPhone but after the app was bought by Facebook it disappeared.

Thanks for clarifying, @jayree - I didn't know that. Very annoying for iPhone users, the offline feature is certainly very useful.

 

[jmcarp]

No, Google Translate is available for iPhone too - just go to the App Store.

I assumed that because this thread is titled Google Translate Offline that readers would know I was referring to the ability to use the language libraries offline, which is not available for iPhone. I know the app itself is available for the iPhone (I have it on mine), but it only works with wifi or cellular data.

 

[GettingThere]

I assumed that because this thread is titled Google Translate Offline that readers would know I was referring to the ability to use the language libraries offline, which is not available for iPhone. I know the app itself is available for the iPhone (I have it on mine), but it only works with wifi or cellular data.

Yes, sorry @jmcarp , I missed the fact that the offline feature isn't available for iPhone.

 

[jmcarp]

Yes, sorry @jmcarp , I missed the fact that the offline feature isn't available for iPhone.

No problemo, my friend.

 

[Whalleyranger]

Really helpful, thank you!

 

[t2andreo]

For the iPhone, or any iOS device, I recommend you consider the app: "Spanish Dictionary, Translator, Phrase Book" by iThinkdiff. It is available at the iTunes App store.

There is a free version, and another costing a small amount. I recommend the pay version as it has more features.

Also, this is one of a complete line of similar products for many different languages. I have a copy of the app in every language I encounter while globetrotting. I even used the Portuguese version on Camino in 2015, until I discovered that many Portuguese speak good English (subtitled English programming on TV). However, my French, Italian, and Spanish versions are used regularly, once I determine that English is not an option.

This app offers an excellent offline dictionary and phrase book, plus the ability to bookmark select words. The translator function is only available with a data / Wi-Fi connection but is very good. You can save the results of the online translations in your offline bookmark file. This makes it handy for saving favorite phrases, such as, "Can you please call me a taxi, for now?"

Or, one of my personal favorites: "My feet smell like cheese even when I wash them well with soap and water. Do I have a fungus infection? Do you have anything for it?" THAT was a classic on my first Camino. I now know what to ask for at a farmacia, if I suffer the results of forgetting to wear flip-flops in any shower or tub.

If you have a Wi-Fi connection, the translator, or bookmarked phrases, can be spoken aloud by your device as well. I have not tried this offline. But, logically it should work. Then again, I do not use Siri...so who knows?

So, you can brainstem-storm all the various phrases you think you might need, translate them, and save them. That is what I do. I also store them in my cloud account, so I can fetch them online.

I hope this helps.

 

[jmcarp]

For the iPhone, or any iOS device, I recommend you consider the app: "Spanish Dictionary, Translator, Phrase Book" by iThinkdiff. It is available at the iTunes App store.

There is a free version, and another costing a small amount. I recommend the pay version as it has more features.

Also, this is one of a complete line of similar products for many different languages. I have a copy of the app in every language I encounter while globetrotting. I even used the Portuguese version on Camino in 2015, until I discovered that many Portuguese speak good English (subtitled English programming on TV). However, my French, Italian, and Spanish versions are used regularly, once I determine that English is not an option.

This app offers an excellent offline dictionary and phrase book, plus the ability to bookmark select words. The translator function is only available with a data / Wi-Fi connection but is very good. You can save the results of the online translations in your offline bookmark file. This makes it handy for saving favorite phrases, such as, "Can you please call me a taxi, for now?"

Or, one of my personal favorites: "My feet smell like cheese even when I wash them well with soap and water. Do I have a fungus infection? Do you have anything for it?" THAT was a classic on my first Camino. I now know what to ask for at a farmacia, if I suffer the results of forgetting to wear flip-flops in any shower or tub.

If you have a Wi-Fi connection, the translator, or bookmarked phrases, can be spoken aloud by your device as well. I have not tried this offline. But, logically it should work. Then again, I do not use Siri...so who knows?

So, you can brainstem-storm all the various phrases you think you might need, translate them, and save them. That is what I do. I also store them in my cloud account, so I can fetch them online.

I hope this helps.

Thanks, Tom. It's a shame that offline translation apps for the iPhone seem to be non-existent. We're planning to do the CP next year, and it looks like taking my wife's old Motorola Razr might be a good option since it can accommodate offline language libraries. She likes the camera in it better than the one in her iPhone anyway.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Microsoft Translator has a similar off line function but no spoken translation off line - I use both because Google translations can be a bit contorted at times.

For fun translate something from say English to French to German to Spanish and back to English to see what comes out

 

[DavidsRetired]

I encourage those, who have limited Spanish as myself to download a translator on their phones; great tools.

I was having dinner at the Hostal-Restaurante El Peregrino, in El Burgo Ranero in 2014, when an old German couple sat next to me (I’m just shy of 60, and they had a few good years on me). They were struggling with the menu, and spoke neither Spanish nor English and both were becoming visibly frustrated, as was the waiter. I lived in Germany for several years, but last spoke it in 1981, so was a tad rusty, and wasn’t able to convey the menu properly.

Regardless, I told them to give me a moment and I typed the entire menu in my translator and gave them my phone. The women actually began to cry. I knew they were both tired from a long day and overly stressed and emotional.

The point is – I never needed the translator until that day, but was truly happy that I had it with me. And the best part was…. The app was weightless

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Don't forget Google Translate allows you to scan a document and translate the whole thing at once using the camera icon.

The attachment is the original document - a poem in a kind of faux Credentiale frame (which I scanned with an app called Tiny Scanner and loaded into another called Evernote - this works wonderfully well as an electronic scrap book for notes, time tables, photos etc).

This is what Google Translate read:

Polvo, barro, sol y lluvia es camino de Santiago. Millares de peregrinos y mas de la ONU Millar de Años. Peregrino Quién te llama? cqué fuerza oculta te ATRAE? Ni el campo de las Estrellas ni las Grandes Catedrales. No es la bravura La Navarra. ni el vino de los riojanos ni los mariscos gallegos ni los campos castellanos. Peregrino cquién Te Llama? cqué fuerza oculta te ATRAE? Ni las gentes del camino ni las costumbres rurales. No Es La Historia y la Cultura ni el gallo de la Calzada ni el palacio de Gaudí ni el Castillo Ponferrada. Todo lo veo Al pasar Y Es Un Gozo Verlo TODO Mas La Voz Que a mi me llama La fuerza Que a mi me empuja La Fuerza Que una me m ATRAE no sé explicarla ni yo. El isolo de Arriba lo SABE!

And this is the translation:

Dust, mud, sun and rain is the way of Santiago. Thousands of pilgrims and more than a thousand years. Pilgrim who's calling? cque hidden force draws you? Neither the field of stars nor the great cathedrals. Not the Navarra bravura. and the wine of Rioja or Galician shellfish or Castilian fields. Pilgrim cquién call you? cque hidden force draws you? Neither the people nor the way rural customs. Not the history and culture or the rooster of Calzada or Gaudi Palace and the castle Ponferrada. Everything I see in passing and is a joy to see everything but the voice that calls me my strength that pushes me my strength that I do not know m attracts nor explain. The above isolo knows!

As you can see it struggles a bit with inverted ?s and !s The other quirk is it doesn't do usted/ustedes very well so "pueden" can come out as you can (pl) or they can!

Of course the app assumes that the spelling is correct in the first place and "menu" Spanish (or French for that matter) can be a work of art: "huevos de la abuela" (grandma's eggs) turned out to be a mountain of fried eggs, bacon, sausages, chorizo, morcedilla and potatoes and probably the reason grandpa died so young