Hello colleagues, What has been your or your students' experience with voice translators? These tools are definitely getting better and better. If you have any recommendations or cautions regarding voice translation, please let us know. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition
Comments
I had a student who when I tried to show her google translate said, "Oh, that's my teacher." Folks who have a high level of their education in their first language can make better use of these tools. This gal had a Math Phd. in her home country. For words and lone phrases, google translate is incredibly accurate. I can't speak for other apps.
Hi all, Thanks Josh and Susan for sharing your experiences with students' use of online translators. There is no doubt that these tools have improved significantly in recent years and can be extremely helpful.
My question was specifically about "voice" translators. I have one student who speaks into his phone in Spanish, and his spoken words immediately appear as a written script in English. From my experience so far, the translation seems to be accurate. I'm curious if teachers are seeing much of this type of translation program or are using such a tool themselves. I've seen it in Spanish, and I'm wondering about other languages, too.
Thanks for telling us about your experience.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition CoP