Charlotte Foster
Travel Tips

The must-know Google Translate hack for your next holiday

When travelling overseas, one thing we can often run into is an issue with the language barrier. 

Whether it's chatting to someone in a store or trying to decipher street signs and menus, when exploring international locations, it's important to be prepared to communicate. 

One savvy traveller has shared a must-know tip for your next trip abroad, which will get you out of sticky situations. 

When Nguyen was travelling in Turkey, she found herself stumped when trying to order off a menu written in a language she didn’t speak. 

However, she discovered that if you open the Google Translate app and point the camera at the foreign text, it will instantly translate it to English. 

"Literally, it translates everything within seconds. How sick is that?" she said. 

The feature automatically detects the language shown on camera and immediately translates it to the user's preferred language. 

The camera can currently interpret over 85 language scripts and can translate into any of the languages supported on Google Translate, which can be downloaded on both iPhone and Android devices.

"You guys need to get onto this and thank me later," said Nguyen.

While Nguyen found the tech an illuminating discovery, her TikTok video was flooded by users saying they had been using the app for their international travels for years, with the camera feature being available to the public since at least 2018.

"I'm 71 and feel good today, been using this for years," said one.

Another commented, "Welcome to 2022 you're years late!"

Image credits: Getty Images

Tags:
travel tips, holiday, Google Translate, language