Gadgetory

when you're on vacation you're probably gonna be eating out a lot I mean that's part of the fun right trying the local flavor some exotic new delicacy but when you're looking at a menu that's printed entirely in a foreign language it can be a little daunting fortunately whether you're an iPhone user or Android their apps out there that can help you translate a menu in seconds all right let's start with the language that I know the least about Chinese for that I've got an app called way go it's a new app only on iOS a free version gives you 10 translations per day or you can upgrade to a 699 version that gives you unlimited translations that's what I've got here let's put it to the test boot up way go I see a little window here in the app I need to Center the Chinese characters now I can use a little zoom slider here to get the text just right in the box I can also expand the box by dragging on it but I'm just gonna go with one line of text make things easy on and right underneath it I should see a translation sliced duck sounds good but let's see what else is on the menu we've got pan fried cuttlefish and bitter melon and fries that one now by hitting the pause button I'm el to see the translation and I can actually send this to myself via email I can hit the share button I can send it to other people one option is not here is the ability to save it to my camera roll that would be nice all right so way go here's what I like about it the dictionary is built into the app and it doesn't have to access the internet in order to do the translation that's pretty critical that means if you're in a restaurant that doesn't have the reception you're still going to be able to do the translation on the downside it's expensive it's 699 for the full version the text has to be really clear in order for the translation after work also the translations aren't spot on again something that's pretty common with a lot of these apps but it gets you in the ballpark next up I've got an app called Word Lens now the great thing about this app is out of work with both Android and iOS it's free to download but you're paying for 99 / language pack and those languages don't include Chinese you've got French German Italian and Spanish that works for you definitely worth checking this app out let's see if it worked some magic on this Frenchman so all I have to do with this one is hold the camera over the text and watch it magically translate into the language that I want but the really cool thing about this is that it changes the text and replaces it so you get to see the translation in the context of the menu once the translation looks right I'll hit the pause button you go it's gonna hold that translation in from there I can save to my camera roll and I can also email it so that's pretty cool feature so here's the good in the bad with word lens now the coolest thing about word lens is that it looks like magic when you show this off to people it's pretty amazing that it can replace the words right in front of you with your translation works with Android and iOS that's a big upside downside is 499 / language is still pretty pricey and the translations aren't the best I don't know if it's just the many as I was choosing but there's some pretty hilarious translations here that I'm sure can't be accurate or I really don't need to eat at this restaurant alright finally let's talk about the best free option out there google translate this is another one that's available for both iOS and Android but the Android version has a big advantage over iOS which is that it lets you translate pictures you take so let's give it a shot I'm going to really throw it a curveball with the menu written entirely in Greek let's see what it can do get a nice and close and get a good focus shot of the text and then take the picture all right here it's going to do a little scanning of the text see if you can pick out the letters that are in this picture alright and now it's asked me to use my finger to highlight the line that I want translated there's a variety of appetizers are here that's good how about this one right here octopus I'll probably stay away from that one what about down here meatballs sure why not the cool thing is you can just use your finger to go line by line and figure out what you want translated that's pretty neat the other cool thing is when you get back to the main screen of google translate it's gonna have record of everything at recently translated for you so i can look at the cucumber salad the tomato soup the meatballs it's all there and it's ready for me to reference whenever I want so here's the good in the bad with google translate good news it's free even though the version for iOS isn't as cool as the one for Android that can take a picture it's free free is free the other great thing about google translate is the breadth of languages it supports it goes everything from arabic to zulu you have amazing language support the bad news is that iOS users don't get that cool camera feature these silly an internet connection do any of this translations you didn't think that with wego and that the translations are pretty rough but really that same complaint can be made with all these apps so there you go three apps that will help you demystify menus printed in languages you don't understand now if you find yourself ordering the head cheese or the jellied chicken feet at least you'll know what you're in for more tips like this head over to how to cnet com you