Google is turning any headphones into real-time translation earbuds

[Daniel Sims]

Looking ahead: Live translation is shaping up to be one of the most practical (and competitive) uses of generative AI, with real-life implications for how people communicate across languages. A new update suggests Google may be pulling ahead of Apple: while Apple recently rolled out live, in-ear speech translation with its latest major OS release, Google's approach scales far wider, supporting significantly more languages and headphone models.

Starting today, Android device owners can begin testing live speech translation in the Google Translate app, which now relies on Gemini. The AI makes text translations sound more natural and nuanced than before.

Users can receive live translations of conversations, speeches, TV shows, and movies by opening the Google Translate app and syncing their device with any pair of headphones. Gemini attempts to preserve the speaker's tone, emphasis, and cadence. Both live and text translations can also localize idioms instead of translating them literally.

The beta is currently available on Android devices in the US, Mexico, and India. It supports over 70 languages, including English, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, standard Arabic, Palestinian Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Zulu, and many more. Support for iOS and more countries is coming next year.

Meanwhile, Gemini-powered text translations are now available in the US and India and support 20 languages, including Spanish, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, and German. Users can try them on the Android and iOS apps, as well as on the web.

Google's live translation closely resembles a feature Apple introduced with iOS 26 in June. Users with iPhones that support Apple Intelligence can receive live translations of text and verbal conversations. However, live audio translations support only a few AirPods models and only in Mandarin Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and European Spanish.

The difference in functionality likely reflects Google's aggressive investment in Gemini, which is quickly catching up to ChatGPT's user base. OpenAI recently pivoted its feature roadmap to focus on countering Google's progress. By comparison, Apple Intelligence is a latecomer to the AI battle and still relies on external models such as GPT. Google Translate's maturity compared to Apple's rival also helps explain Gemini's broader language support.

Google has also updated the Translate app's language learning tools. Resembling Duolingo, the courses now offer improved feedback and allow users to track daily progress. Support has also expanded to almost 20 new countries, including Germany, India, Sweden, and Taiwan.

New courses for English speakers include German and Portuguese. Meanwhile, English courses are now available for Bengali, Mandarin, Dutch, German, Hindi, Italian, Romanian, and Swedish speakers.

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Google is turning any headphones into real-time translation earbuds

 

[passwordistaco]

Google Babelfish.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Google Universal Translator.

This is absolutely one of the most solid use cases for LLMs.

Was recently in Japan and it was so funny how there were some older folks whose eyes would light up when there was a language barrier and they'd pull out their phone and immediately start unloading rapidfire Japanese into a translator app, then point to my phone like "Bruh I've been waiting my whole life for some magic tech that lets me talk to foreigners let get chatting!"

This kind of thing will be a bigger advance than the internet in bringing the world closer together.

 

[Jim Lahey]

One of my favorite Star Trek technologies making a preliminary appearance.

Hopefully it comes to Canadian users soon, as I’d like to test it out.

 

[passwordistaco]

One of my favorite Star Trek technologies making a preliminary appearance.

Hopefully it comes to Canadian users soon, as I’d like to test it out.

Doesn't look like Canadian is one of the languages it translates. Soory aboot that.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Doesn't look like Canadian is one of the languages it translates. Soory aboot that.

Dang it eh?

 

[p51d007]

One of my favorite Star Trek technologies making a preliminary appearance.

Hopefully it comes to Canadian users soon, as I’d like to test it out.

Always hoped to live long enough to see the "universal translator" come along.

 

[OortCloud]

Given it's Google, they will take be storing all your conversations and then selling them to anybody with a credit card. You will get very little notice that they are doing this. They will make it arduous to turn off this privacy setting. It will constantly turn itself back on in updates.

 

[TheBigT42]

Google Babelfish.

So people don't have to

 

[antiproduct]

Google Universal Translator.

What's your GUT telling you? They practically have their advertising slogan right there.

 

[daffy duck]

This will come in very handy for my Japanese holiday next year. A truly excellent use of AI for the masses.

 

[trparky]

This may like a dumb question but isn't translating something that can't be done in real time as what's portrayed in Star Trek? With some languages, you need to hear the whole sentence before you can even attempt to start translating due to how some languages don't follow the same grammar rules that English uses.

For instance, Polish. Very different grammar rules from English. We might say "Throw some hay out the window for the horse." In Polish, if we were to translate a Polish way of saying it directly to English in real time, it would be "For the horse, throw some hay out the window."

 

[trents]

Finally, a practical AI application.

 

[jeffbert]

The future is here! Are we willing to pay for it?