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Test Bench: Electronic translators | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Translator are smaller than phrasebooks, contains several languages and can speak them for you. We fire tongue-twisters at six.
Edited by Mark Harris
You’ve ordered your latte flawlessly in the charming Sicilian cafe, but when it comes to asking about parking restrictions you may need linguistic assistance. Electronic translators have several advantages over phrasebooks. They’re often smaller and more comprehensive, with intelligent search functions to track down your chosen phrase in seconds. The latest models, including all six tested here, can speak foreign words and phrases out loud, and some can recognise and translate speech at the touch of a button. All these translators can interpret French, German, Italian and Spanish and at least one other language. If you’re travelling further afield, the Franklin and Ectaco iTravl can translate Chinese and Russian, among others. For round-the-world travel or if you just want to converse fluently with your plumber, the Lingo also speaks Polish (and most other east European tongues), Turkish, Persian (Farsi) and even Korean – 19 languages in total. It’s worth checking how many phrases the translator knows. The Franklin, Lingo and Sony Talkman have between 1,000 and 3,000, which is fine for ordering breakfast and finding the hospital. The Ectaco iTravl’s 7,000 expressions should enable you to voice your appreciation of a meal and describe your complaint to the doctor, while the 14,000-20,000 phrases of the Garmin Language Guide and Ectaco Partner may be comprehensive enough to run a kitchen and give a lecture to medical students. Choosing phrases and entering words to translate can be time consuming, especially on cramped keyboards and tiny touchscreens. The Talkman and both Ectacos have speech recognition, although don’t expect them to turn estuary English into idiomatic French. You’re thinking of Star Trek. On the Ectacos, you choose a themed scenario and speak a phrase into the microphone. If it is there, the device will translate it into your selected language. In tests, this proved impressive but not reliable, especially on the Partner. The PSP worked better: you simply pick a situation, say what you want and the PSP checks its memory. Even if your exact phrase isn’t there, the Talkman offers an intelligent variety of phrases to select from. The PSP Talkman and Ectaco iTravl also work as tutors, offering exercises to improve fluency and evaluating pronunciation. Only the Talkman asks whether you want to say a phrase in a forceful or laidback manner, or in a friendly or unfriendly tone – useful when you’ve exhausted your stock of politeness. Electronic translators can perform other digital functions, such as currency conversion, alarm clock and calculator – found on all models, except that the PSP has no calculator. You’ll also find basic games, voice memos and MP3 players on several. There are drawbacks. Phrasebooks don’t run out of power, while translators’ battery life is measured in hours rather than weeks. Sporting, beach and rainforest holidays could prove fatal to these translators, none of which is shockproof, dustproof or waterproof. All but two were hard to read in strong sunlight. Only the monochrome screens of the Franklin and Lingo could be easily seen in bright sun, and neither was great indoors. Another annoyance is that all the models, except the Talkman and Garmin, use American voices and words, so remember to swap your trousers for pants when composing sentences. Choosing a translator depends on how and where you’re travelling. The Talkman’s PSP lets you play console-quality games, while the Garmin’s sat nav keeps drivers on track. The Lingo should let you order dinner almost anywhere and has great battery life. A good all-round choice is the Ectaco iTravl, thanks to its huge dictionary and good (if temperamental) voice recognition. JARGON BUSTER Qwerty keyboard Real keyboard with a traditional typewriter layout Speech recognition Ability to listen to an English phrase and suggest a translation Virtual keyboard Digital keyboard icons on a touch-sensitive screen
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