VOA慢速英語：谷歌翻譯8大神奇功能

Eight Things You Didn't Know Google Translate Could Do

谷歌翻譯8大神奇功能

As smartphones continue to get smarter, we can only expect Google Translate to stay one step ahead.

隨著智能手機越來越聰明，我們只能期待谷歌翻譯領先一步。

Over 200 million people around the world now depend on the free application every day. And yet, many repeat users do not know about some of its most exciting features. We are here today to help change that.

目前全世界有超過2億人每天依賴這款免費的應用程序。然而，很多老用戶并不了解它最激動人心的一些功能。我們今天就來幫助改變這點。

Use your smartphone camera

利用智能手機相機

Let's start with your smartphone camera.

讓我們從你智能手機的相機開始。

By pointing the camera at an object with words on it, you can translate those words into many languages. This feature will translate the words from whatever the camera sees -- whether it is a street sign, restaurant menu, or even handwriting.

將相機對準一件表面有文字的物體，就能把這些文字翻譯成多種語言。該功能可以翻譯相機拍到的任何文字，無論是路牌、餐廳菜單，甚至是手寫文字。

Simply touch the camera button on the app and point the device at whatever you'd like. This may be one of the app's most striking features, although it usually works better with printed words than handwriting.

只要點擊該應用程序上的相機按鈕，對準你想要使用翻譯功能的任何物體。這可能是該應用程序最引人注目的功能之一，雖然它通常識別印刷字體要好于手寫字體。

Translate spoken words and phrases

翻譯口語單詞和短語

Google Translate now also translates whatever it hears. If your electronic device has a microphone, you can talk directly into it and the program will quickly begin translating several sentences. But it does not like when a speaker stops in the middle of a thought. This feature works on both the smartphone app and the website.

谷歌翻譯可以翻譯它聽到的任何語言。如果你的電子設備有麥克風，你可以直接對著它說話，該程序將會迅速開始翻譯句子，但是它不喜歡說話者中間停頓。該功能在智能手機應用程序和網(wǎng)站上都能使用。

You can even play pre-recorded audio or video close to the microphone and Google Translate will work fairly well.

你甚至可以靠近麥克風播放預先錄制的音視頻，谷歌翻譯也能運行得相當好。

To use this feature, just touch the microphone image.

想要使用這一功能，只需要按下麥克風圖標。

We reported recently on Google Pixel Buds, which also translates spoken language.

我們最近報道了Google Pixel Buds，它也能翻譯口語。

Use offline translation for travel

旅行中使用離線翻譯

If you have ever been to another country, you know how unpredictable a cellular or wireless connection can be. Google Translate now offers users the ability to download a whole language for future use offline.

如果你曾經(jīng)去過其它國家，就知道蜂窩網(wǎng)絡或無線網(wǎng)絡有多不靠譜。谷歌翻譯現(xiàn)在允許用戶下載某種語言供以后脫機使用。

To activate the service, you must first download the language with a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, so it's probably best to do this before traveling.

想要激活該服務，你必須首先使用無線網(wǎng)絡或蜂窩網(wǎng)路下載該語言，所以最好是在旅行開始前弄好。

The download for each language can be about 25 or 30 megabytes in size. So look at the data plan for your device if you expect to download without Wi-Fi.

下載每種語言大概有25到35兆大小，所以如果你希望在沒有無線網(wǎng)絡的情況下下載，請檢查一下你手機的流量包。

To find the offline translation feature, just hit the settings image in the app.

查找離線翻譯功能，只需要點擊應用程序中的設置圖標。

Translate your handwriting

翻譯手寫體

Our next feature seems like it was created just for fun. You can now write words by hand directly onto the screen of your smartphone in the Google Translate app. The app will then translate the word or expression.

我們要提到的谷歌翻譯的下一個功能似乎就是為了好玩而創(chuàng)建的。你可以打開谷歌翻譯應用程序，直接在智能手機屏幕上手寫文字。該應用程序然后就會翻譯這些文字或短語。

This feature works well, even with unclear handwriting. We tested it by writing words unclearly in a few languages. Each time, the translation was correct.

即使手寫的筆跡潦草，該功能也能正常工作。我們潦草書寫了數(shù)種語言對該功能進行了測試，每次翻譯都是正確的。

Create your own phrasebook

創(chuàng)建自己的生詞本

Another wonderful feature is the phrasebook. You can save and reuse your most commonly searched words and expressions in the phrasebook. To do this on your smartphone or computer, simply touch the star image.

谷歌翻譯另一項非常好的功能就是生詞本。你可以將最經(jīng)常搜索的單詞或短語保存到生詞本并重復使用。想要在手機或電腦上執(zhí)行這項操作，只需要點擊星形圖標。

On a computer, the phrasebook also lets you sort the saved terms by language – which is useful if you are using or learning several languages.

在電腦上，生詞本還允許你按照語言分類保存詞語，如果你在使用或學習多門語言，這種功能就非常有用。

The phrasebook can even be an excellent tool for examining sentence structure; you can use it to compare the structure of sentences in two languages.

生詞本甚至可以作為檢驗句子結構的絕佳工具。你可以利用它來比較兩門語言的句子結構。

Get slower pronunciations

放慢語速

Language learners all over the world will welcome the next feature. Everyone knows how difficult it can be to understand a foreign language when it is spoken too quickly. But, did you know that Google Translate will slow down the speed of its speech at your request? Simply touch the listen image twice to hear the translation at the slower speed.

世界各地的語言學習者都會喜歡下面這一功能。大家都知道，如果說得太快，想要理解一門外語有多難。但是，你知道嗎?谷歌翻譯可以根據(jù)你的要求放慢語速。只需要雙擊聆聽圖標就能以較慢的速度聽取翻譯。

Use WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger

使用WhatsApp或Facebook Messenger

You will never feel too distant from friends or family overseas with the next feature. If your smartphone uses the Android operating system, you are in luck. Google Translate will perform translations directly in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. No need to copy and paste the text from those apps into Google Translate.

利用下一項功能，你再也不會覺得海外的親朋好友過于遙遠。如果你的智能手機采用安卓系統(tǒng)，那么恭喜你，谷歌翻譯可以直接在WhatsApp和Facebook Messenger中進行翻譯。不需要將文字從這些應用程序中復制或粘貼到谷歌翻譯中。

Make Google Translate better

改善谷歌翻譯

Finally, you can help to improve the translation quality of Google Translate for users around the world. There are two ways to do this: suggest a change for individual translations or join the Translate Community.

最后，你可以幫助提高谷歌翻譯的翻譯質量為世界各地的用戶服務。有兩種辦法來做到這點：對個別翻譯進行修改或是加入翻譯社區(qū)。

Suggesting a change is easy: just type or paste in words or phrases on the device as you normally would. If the translation looks problematic, simply "suggest an edit" inside the translated box.

建議修改很簡單：只需要在設備上輸入或粘貼文字或短語即可。如果翻譯看起來有點問題，只需要點擊翻譯框內的“建議翻譯”即可。

The second way is to join the Translate Community. Go to translate.google.com/community and sign into your Google account. Then, you can either review the quality of phrases that have already been translated or translate words and phrases into your chosen language.

第二種辦法就是加入翻譯社區(qū)。訪問translate.google.com/community，并登錄您的Google帳戶。然后，你可以查看已經(jīng)翻譯過的短語的翻譯質量，或是將單詞和短語翻譯成你所選擇的語言。

I'm Alice Bryant.

愛麗絲·布萊恩特報道。

And I'm Jill Robbins.

吉爾·羅賓斯報道。