When you look around, all you see are signs. Signs give you information - where to go, what is here, how to get somewhere and what to do. We take these for granted, but when we travel to a foreign, non-English speaking country, what becomes immediately apparent is that signs are useless. There are words and arrows.
This is where an app called Word Lens becomes vital.
Before you roll your eyes and think this is yet another translation app, Word Lens is so good, Google just bought it, and it doesn't require Internet access to work!
Word Lens is an app made by Quest Visual, which allows you to point your phone at any text, and in real-time, the words on the sign or menu are translated. What is unique about Word Lens is that it does not require an Internet connection to work. Simply point the app at what you need translated and the app will do the talking.
Since the launch of the app in 2010, more languages have been added and it currently can translate these languages in both directions:
English >> Russian
English >> Spanish
English >> French
English >> Italian
English >> German
English >> Portuguese
Not right all the time
The app doesn't always get it 100% right; however, it does a reasonable enough job so you know what it means and you can stop butchering the local language while trying to remember eighth grade French lessons. I tried it on several signs and it did a superb job in telling me what they mean:
Google has snapped up the company for an undisclosed amount and the acquisition was announced on Quest Visual's Web site:
The line to take note of is the one that says: "...free to download for a limited time while the Quest Visual team transitions to Google".
There is no indication of how long that would be, but since it is available now in the Google Play Store and iOS App Store, I would highly recommend you grab your copy now, before it is either pulled off the market to become part of the Google Glass project, or Google discontinues it.
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