Language Translator Devices, any good?

[Road Hog]

My next trip will take me to at least 15 different languages. From Italy to Mongolia then south through China, end in Indonesia. Not as easy as South America where they all speak Spanish, (sort of) or places where you can count on there being some that can speak English.
So I had a look at the Language Translator Devices. Are these any good? Are they worth taking along.

Bob

[brclarke]

Personally I'd take an old smartphone loaded up with translator/dictionary apps, plus a small notepad of paper and a pen. It's sometimes a lot faster to sketch a doodle or draw a map than it is to work with a translator.

[Scrabblebiker]

I have no personal experience with LTD so I can't comment on it. But, there is always Google Translate with which I've had tremendous success in several languages including Bahasa Indonesia, Romanian and a few others. It's not perfect but it is "two way". You can speak into your phone, have it translate, hand the phone to the other person after reversing the language and voila, you have a fairly accurate translation. You can also hold it up to signs and other text and have it translate the sign for you.

The best part is that it's free and you can download language packages beforehand to avoid having to use data. Unfortunately the photo recognition function requires an internet connection.

...Michelle

[ta-rider]

I traveled more then 80 countrys, most of the time using hands and feet to comunicate with gestures. If i got arrested by the police, they had internet and we used translate.google.com but in most of the cases its best to pretend not to understand what the police in third world countrys wants from you: a bribe. What do you bring for me from Germany? Just smile and dont understand Motorcycling around the world - 50.000km across Africa

[Fern]

google translate app, it allows you to download languages for off line use, no need for data connection. You can flip the screen horizontal for large text to show the person you are trying to communicate with.

I did worry say 5 years ago about using a big flashy smartphone in countries where the average annual salary was the cost of the phone, not so much fear of it being stolen,but more of rubbing my wealth in people's faces.

But now it seems so many people have smart phones!