Android Marshmallow has a hidden feature: universal translation
Google鈥檚 language translation features have always been pretty good. Way back in 2010, the company introduced the ability to translate street signs, menu items, and other written text just by snapping a picture. And earlier this year, Google beefed up its instant translation app by adding 20 more languages, allowing a user with an Android or iOS device to translate written text simply by viewing it through the device鈥檚 screen.
Android 6.0 鈥淢arshmallow鈥� takes translation one step further by automatically integrating it into popular apps such as LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and TripAdvisor.
Users will need to have Google鈥檚 Translate app installed on their phone or tablet for the feature to work, but they won鈥檛 need to switch back and forth between Translate and other apps to be able to understand text written in other languages. The translated text will appear right in the app being used.
Say you鈥檙e using TripAdvisor to read reviews of a hotel or a tourist attraction in Germany. You can highlight the German text you鈥檇 like to understand, and a 鈥渢ranslate鈥� option will pop up alongside the usual copy-and-paste commands.
If you鈥檙e using WhatsApp to communicate with someone in another language, the feature will help you to read his or her messages and to compose your own 鈥� just type a response in your preferred language, and Android will convert it to the language spoken by the other person. Google says the feature will allow for translation between any of 90 languages.
The translation relies on an under-the-hood change in the way Android Marshmallow . When you highlight text, Android displays a floating toolbar with 鈥渃ut,鈥� 鈥渃opy,鈥� and 鈥減aste鈥� as well as context-sensitive options such as 鈥淐omment,鈥� 鈥淪earch,鈥� and 鈥淭ranslate.鈥� The translation feature won鈥檛 work with previous versions of Android, and because of the way it鈥檚 implemented, it probably won鈥檛 appear on iPhones or iPads either.
Google says that more than 500 million people use its translation services each month, and that more than 100 billion words are translated each day.
Recent advances in machine learning and data collection are helping companies such as Google and Microsoft to increase the accuracy and speed of automated translation, by giving translation algorithms a bigger body of text in different languages to draw from. Last year Microsoft-owned Skype launched a preview of its real-time audio translation service, which allow users to have face-to-face video conversations even if they don鈥檛 speak the same language.
