Traveling to a new country can be an exciting and rewarding experience, but it can make your trip a little frustrating if you don't know the language there. You might have trouble finding your destinations, ordering food, finding transportation, or knowing how much money something costs. Even worse, you could find yourself in an emergency and unable to ask anyone for help. Keep your next trip abroad stress-free with one of these excellent translation apps.
1. Google Translate
Ask anyone and they'll tell you that Google Translate is the best translation service for any situation, including traveling. Google Translate is 100 percent free and it works with more than 100 languages for text translation, more than 90 languages for image translation, and more than 70 languages for live conversation translation. You can use it on the web or you can download it to your iOS or Android phone. The conversation translation is one of the best features for travel. Let the app record your speaking if you need to know a sentence or phrase in another language. It will speak back to you with slow, clear words so that you can repeat them to the person you need to speak to. It's that simple.
2. iTranslate
iTranslate also has iOS and Android apps and a web app that you can pull up and use online. It's free for the most part, but it also has additional premium features. Like Google Translate, it works with more than 100 languages. However, instead of only translating from one language to another, it also teaches you a new language with flashcards and other tools so that you can brush up on some basics before you travel. iTranslate has a built-in dictionary with more than 250 select phrases that you might need to know when you're abroad, so you can pull it up easily as needed. It also detects various languages.
3. TripLingo
The TripLingo app is built specifically with traveling in mind. Not only does it help with the translation of more than 100 languages, but it also features cultural guides and safety tools for traveling abroad. Learn everything from local slang to local etiquette to local emergency information and phrases you might use in an emergency. It also has a Wi-Fi dialer so you can make free international calls if you're online. There's even a Culture Crash Course for many places where you might choose to travel. You can use TripLingo with iOS or Android; the basic version is free, although it has premium features.
4. Photo Translator
Many apps offer a photo translator, but it's the Photo Translator's specialty and has some of the best photo scanning technology available in the translation services market. That means you can scan a street sign, menu, or receipt that's in a foreign language and find out what it says in English. It even works offline. Photo Translator is available for more than 100 languages, and it's free with premium features available. You can download it for iOS and Android.
5. SayHi
SayHi only supports 55 languages, but what it lacks there it makes up for in understanding various dialects in several countries. For this reason, it's considered an essential tool for traveling outside the English-speaking world. SayHi is 100 percent free and available for iOS and Android. Keep in mind that you have to be online to use it.
