Google Translate goes offline for Android

Google's latest update to Google Translate for its Android OS, out this week, supports offline translation, helping travelers out of tight spots or even just when ordering in restaurants -- regardless of whether or not they have an internet connection.

Google's latest update to Google Translate for its Android OS, out this week, supports offline translation, helping travelers out of tight spots or even just when ordering in restaurants -- regardless of whether or not they have an internet connection.

The updates to the Google Translate app for Android apply to versions of the app on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and up, and the app supports translation between over 50 languages ranging from Italian to Arabic, though the offline version may provide less comprehensive options than the online version.

In order to use the updated app in offline mode simply launch the app, select 'Offline Languages' in the app menu in order to see the available language packages which support offline translation and select the two you wish to translate between -- English and French, for example. Once this offline language package has been downloaded, users can then easily translate between the two selected languages.

Though the iOS version of the app was also recently updated, it does not currently appear to support offline translation. It does however let users access their translation history and their favorite 'starred' translation while disconnected from the internet.

Download the free Android app at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate

Other translation apps such as Translate Free (powered by Bing API) and various language specific (e.g., English to French, Spanish to Chinese) versions of Babel Fish are also available on play.google.com.