Google Translate for Android speaks your language, even while offline

¡Hola! Many of us use Google Translate, some on a daily basis. For instance, I follow a few blogs in Reader (a moment of silence please) that are published in languages that are foreign to me. For the most part it works well, but can also lead to some rather amusing results. Now you can get those same laughs from your Android phone, even when you are offline.

Today Google's product manager Minqi Jiang announces that the search giant and mobile operating system developer is "launching offline language packages for Google Translate on Android (2.3 and above) with support for 50 languages, from French and Spanish to Chinese and Arabic".

Obviously you need the Translate app installed. From there, the new update provides an "Offline Languages" option where you can download the packages available. A word of caution though -- Jiang points out that "While the offline models are less comprehensive than their online equivalents, they are perfect for translating in a pinch when you are traveling abroad with poor reception or without mobile data access".

To enable the offline translation between any two languages you will need to select them within that offline languages menu. Once the packages are downloaded then you can head off to Paris for that vacation you have been dreaming of.

Photo Credit: Igor Petrov/Shutterstock