Google Translate On-Device AI Update Improves Offline Translations

Google has updated its translation service with better offline translations thanks to an infusion of artificial intelligence. The company announced the update to Google Translate today, explaining that it has brought its neural machine translation (NMT) technology to offline translations. With this update, the tech can now run on the mobile device.

Google Translate is typically used when the device is online, however, users can get a certain level of offline translations. Those offline translations will now be much better than before via the NMT technology running on-device when the phone is offline.

According to Google, this opens the door to high-quality translations for all users — even those who don't currently have access to the Internet. That's especially important for travelers who may depend on the app while traveling in a different country where connectivity may be spotty.

Why is machine translation so important? Google explains that its neural system works by translating entire sentences at once rather than one bit at a time. By using context, the system can better determine the right translation for the sentence, which it then may further tweak to make it sound more natural.

Google points out that each language set for Google Translate falls between 35MB and 45MB, meaning it isn't too much of a burden to download them for offline use. The app is available for both Android and iOS.

SOURCE: Google Blog