The best trans­la­tion apps: which is the right one for you?

Millions of people are already using the free Google Translate app via their mobile browser or as an app on their smart­phone. The app can translate 59 different languages without an Internet con­nec­tion and supports various func­tion­al­it­ies. For example, users can upload photos with foreign-language text which are auto-re­cog­nised and trans­lated into the target language. Instead of using the keyboard, the text that needs to be trans­lated can also be hand­writ­ten.

iTrans­late is an award-winning app for trans­la­tion that supports over 90 languages. The basic app is free, while the Pro version is available with a monthly sub­scrip­tion. In addition to trans­la­tions, the free app boasts dic­tion­ar­ies with synonyms and can detect dialects. In addition to the offline mode, the paid pro version of the app supports features such as instant trans­la­tion of signs or menu cards. Con­ver­sa­tions can also be trans­lated.

The language trans­lat­or app Linguee is free, available offline and is already used by millions of people. There’s an in­teg­rated trans­la­tion search engine, which means you have access to over one billion trans­la­tions from the internet so you can find the best one that fits your situation. The app does not use machine-trans­la­tion to provide examples of words in context, but rather it sources words from articles in the original language. Simply start typing a word and autofill will help you fill it in, saving you precious time.

Microsoft tried to compete with Google’s trans­lat­or app in the past, but it took until the launch of the free Microsoft Trans­lat­or app to succeed. More than 70 languages are supported via text or image or audio input. Trans­lat­ing entire con­ver­sa­tions is no big challenge for Microsoft’s ap­plic­a­tion. The most frequent or most important search entries can be saved for faster access.

PONS dic­tion­ar­ies are popular. The publisher’s rep­er­toire includes a free app. However, to use all of its features, an annual sub­scrip­tion is necessary to support the desired language. In addition to trans­lat­ing in­di­vidu­al words, the trans­lat­or app displays example sentences to aid trans­la­tion. Offline usage is also supported.

SayHi is a sub­si­di­ary of Amazon. The trans­la­tion app SayHi Translate is a portable in­ter­pret­er that is free to download and use. The easy-to-use app trans­lates over 50 different languages using speech re­cog­ni­tion and even re­cog­nises dialects. However, keyboard input is also supported and can be adapted for different languages. Different voice patterns (male/female) are available for voice output, depending on the language. The output speed can also be adjusted. However, an Internet con­nec­tion is required to use the app.

DeepL launched its online trans­lat­or in 2017 that claims to achieve some of the best trans­la­tion results in blind testing. DeepL is a free trans­lat­or app that supports 26 languages. Results are natural-sounding and gram­mat­ic­ally correct for the most part. Text that needs to be trans­lated can be entered using the keyboard, copy-and-paste, a device’s mi­cro­phone or using a photo.

DeepL auto­mat­ic­ally re­cog­nises the source language, but it can be set manually to. Text output is fast and happens while typing. Audio voice output is possible for both source and target languages. The free app version supports texts up to a character length of 5,000 char­ac­ters. By adding a DeepL Pro account, available from around £4.99 per month, you can use the trans­la­tion function without character lim­it­a­tion.