If learning other languages is one of your pending subjects, now Alexa can help you. Not because it will teach you, which it could also by using various skills, but because Amazon’s voice assistant now incorporates Live Translation . A new functionality that allows you to translate conversations you may have with other people in real time. Here’s how this handy new feature works.
Alexa and simultaneous translation
A matter of a couple of years ago we learned that Amazon was working on new translation features. With them I wanted to offer the possibility that two people could speak in their respective languages and Alexa would be in charge of translating so that they understood each other.
However, it was other companies such as Google with its Google Assistant or Microsoft with Skype that first offered the translation in real time. However the wait for Alexa came to an end. Amazon finally announced the availability of Live Translation, a live translation feature that you can now use with the Amazon Echo.
At the moment it is true that it is only available for users whose Amazon Echo is configured in English (from the United States), but if you change the language you can try it. Although it is also true that taking into account the languages to which it translates it is very likely that it will not take long to reach other countries where the company’s voice assistant is active.
These languages that Alexa can translate are English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Hindi. In addition, if you have an Echo Show, you will not only hear the translation by Alexa, you will also be able to see on the screen the transcription of what you have understood and its respective translated phrase.
How to use Alexa simultaneous translation
To use the new Live Translation function or live translation of Alexa in Spain , all you have to do is follow a series of steps that we leave you below. Thus, until the official deployment, you can get an idea of how this new functionality works.
- The first thing you should do is access the Alexa application on your mobile device and change the language to English in the settings
- You can also activate multilingual mode by saying “Alexa, speak in English”
- Once active, to test the new live translation, say “Alexa, translate to …” and specify the language from among those available to which you want to translate
- Ready, then you will hear a beep after a brief speech where you are notified that the conversation will be recorded to improve the service
From this moment, where real-time translation is active, users will be able to speak in their respective languages and Alexa will take care of translating. For this it will use its various technologies for both voice recognition and processing. But with the particularity of duplicating to speed up translation times, carrying out said action as it is spoken and not once it has finished.
Here in the brief tests carried out we have verified how in the 4th Generation Echo it is somewhat faster and more agile with respect to the Echo Dot. This is very likely due to that more capable processor that incorporates the new speaker and that we talked about in our analysis.
For the rest, between phrases and phrases, users will hear a beep that will let them know when they can speak so that the Alexa translation goes smoothly and without problems. So now you know, if these parties you had planned to invite someone whose language you don’t speak well, now with Alexa you’ll have it a little easier. And yes, this is also another reason to go for an Amazon Echo.