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Translate – iPhone

Note: Translations won’t always be exact but it is pretty close.

Translate will allow you to translate between any two languages on your iPhone and you can download languages to translate even when your iPhone has no internet connection.

How to Use Translate: Translation

  • Once you have the translate app open, click on the Translation tab in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  • At the top of the screen choose your language at the top left and the language you want to translate to in the top right. (These are interchangeable so it doesn’t really matter which language is on either side)
  • Then you can either type the text you want to translate in the text box or click on the microphone icon to speak.
  • If you click on the More Icon (…) to the right of the microphone, you will have two options:
    • Play Translations
      • This will automatically repeat the translation aloud after you are done speaking or entering the text you want translated.
    • Detect Language
      • This will automatically detect which language is being spoken and translate it into the other language. When this is off, there will be two microphones for each language.
  • Above the text box you will see four icons. From left to right:
    • Landscape mode
      • This will bring up the translation in full screen and in landscape mode (on the side)
    • Favorite
      • This will favorite a translation if it is a phrase you’d like to save for future use.
    • Dictionary
      • If you need to look up a translated word or phrase this will provide you with a definition.
    • Play
      • Clicking on the play button will repeat the most recent translation.

Camera

Using the your iPhones camera, you can scan and take a picture of a text and translate it from one language to another. To use this:

  • Open the Translate app and select the Camera tab at the bottom of the screen.
  • Then at the top left choose the language that the text is in and at the top right choose the language that you want the text to be translated to.
  • To take a picture of the text you want translated, make sure the document is centered and click the middle circle on the screen to take a photo. The text will translate automatically.
  • You can also scan images you’ve already taken a picture of by clicking on the image icon to the left of the middle circle that takes a photo and selecting an image from your photo library.
  • If you need some light to take a photo, turn on your flashlight icon to the right of the middle circle that takes a photo.

Conversation

With conversations you can easily have a conversation with another person.

  • First open the translate app and open the Conversations tab at the bottom of the screen.
  • Then select which two languages will be spoken at the top of the app screen.
  • To the left of the microphone icon, select whether you want to have the conversation side by side or face to face.
  • Now simply press the microphone and start talking, or select the More Icon (…) to the right of the microphone and turn on:
    • Play Translations
      • This will automatically play each translation aloud.
    • Auto Translate
      • With Auto Translate you can continue the conversation without tapping the microphone icon. You’re iPhone will automatically detect the language being spoken and translate it to the other language.
    • Detect Language
      • This will automatically detect which language is being spoken and translate it into the other language. When this is off, there will be two microphones for each language.
    • Clear Conversation
      • This will clear the conversation so you can start a new one.

Favorites

To see your favorited words and phrases:

  • Open the Translate app and click on the Favorites tab in the bottom right corner.
  • Now you can see all of your favorited words and phrases.
  • Click on your favorited words and phrases to place them in landscape mode or play them back.

Translate Settings

Allow Translate To Access

Downloaded Languages

From here you can select all the languages you’d like to download to be able to use them while your iPhone has no internet connection.

ON-Device Mode

Turning this on will always translate downloaded languages without using the internet even if your iPhone has an internet connection. 

Note: Your iPhone will be more accurate with translations if it is using the internet so it is recommended that you keep this on if you can.

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