My New Favorite Travel Tool: Google Translate

My wife and I are currently in Peru and are thoroughly enjoying the sites, culture and food.  The photo above was taken by me at Macchu Picchu.  Macchu Picchu was absolutely spectacular. More details to follow on this trip!

It should be obvious but we love traveling and do as much as we can.  The language barrier can be difficult at times but we always manage to get by.  Google Translate has been around for a while and it has always helped with translating from various languages back to English.  It generally has helped with translating various words or phrases and is a remarkable tool. 

I may be late to the game but I just discovered an absolutely amazing feature of Google Translate that I had to share with everyone. 

Most travelers who end up traveling in places where their native language is not spoken can generally get by but the one area that can be a challenge is ordering food.  When you receive a menu in a foreign language, you try to make out bits and pieces of it in order to decide what to order. 

We stayed in Aqua Calientes which is the town at the base of Macchu Picchu.  Here is the menu of a restaurant that we ate at. 

My Spanish is not great and while I can understand bits and pieces, there are always words or phrases that I can not decipher. 

I noticed that Google Translate has a camera icon and when I pressed it, it went to the camera section of my phone.  When I pointed my camera at the menu above, here is what appeared. 

UNBELIEVABLE!!

Google Translate can literally translate signage, menus or other text from almost any language back into English INSTANTANEOUSLY.  When I pointed my camera at the menu, it translated the menu instantaneously. No loading or waiting or anything.  The words literally changed in my camera view. 

I thought that this was absolutely incredible as it immediately translating the text on the page into English. 

As you can see, the interpretation is a bit fuzzy and it is not entirely correct but it is very close or at least close enough to understand the menu item. 

This is an incredible tool that should definitely be on your phone!  It is completely free and has the ability to make your travels extremely easy when you are in foreign country where you do not speak their language. 

Although incredibly cool, I have to say that I was a little disappointed in finding this tool as struggling with the language is a challenge that I tend to enjoy.  However, knowing that I can decipher any language in a blink of an eye is very reassuring to make traveling as easy as possible.

Do you use Google Translate?  Did you know about this incredible functionality?  Leave your comments below!

Google Translate for IOS