# App recommendation: English to Spanish translation

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 16, 2019, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608 "2019-04-16T01:41:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608/1 "2019-04-16T01:41:06Z")

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I’m traveling a fair bit to Spanish speaking countries for work lately, and I have no gift for languages. What apps do people use for translation? I’d like something really simple - type in a phrase or sentence and get text I can show the person with whom I’m trying to communicate.

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**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608/2 "2019-04-16T03:10:54Z")

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If you put google translate on your phone, you can point the camera at signage or whatever and it will show you a translation on your phone.

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608/3 "2019-04-16T03:47:09Z")

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Ah, but the OP is asking for the opposite.

English to Spanish, to communicate TO the indigenous population.

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**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608/4 "2019-04-16T03:58:33Z")

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Google translate works both ways. You can type in what you want to say and it will translate to whatever language. It will translate audio too, but I don’t know how well.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608/5 "2019-04-16T03:59:24Z")

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> [@digs](#):
>
> Ah, but the OP is asking for the opposite.
> 
> English to Spanish, to communicate TO the indigenous population.

You can use Google translate for that too, by typing in the English. (I haven’t used it as an app, though.)

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608/6 "2019-04-16T04:04:35Z")

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> [@Weedy](#):
>
> It will translate audio too, but I don’t know how well.

Interesting. I did not know that. I just tried it and it worked fine with a couple of simple sentences (English \> Spanish)

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**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608/7 "2019-04-16T08:22:55Z")

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Google Translate works well - I didn’t know it was an app. It even has an offline mode, which is just what I was looking for. Thanks!

Also seems a good way to begin learning a new language.

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/app-recommendation-english-to-spanish-translation/832608/8 "2019-04-16T09:35:31Z")

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And you’re lucky: EN/ES is the pair for which it works best (in either direction). It still manages to do some, uh, interesting things occasionally, but in general it’s pretty decent.