If you are traveling abroad, one of the problems you may encounter is not understanding well what it says on traffic signs, signs and different types of text. A GPS app can help you with the signals and guide you, but on other occasions such as when reading a note or the restaurant menu, you will need one of these apps.

Although we are at the dawn of artificial intelligence, some believe that the language barrier may finally break through this technology. Without going any further, the first terminals IA Huawei are able to identify texts in other languages to make our life easier when we travel. However, it is not necessary to have a mobile with Artificial Intelligence to achieve it. We tell you everything in detail .

The integration of artificial intelligence into the new mobile processors makes many of these translation actions faster and more precise. However, the development of Apps that translate texts in other languages takes a long way. In some cases, very precise translations are obtained that can take us out of some trouble if we are traveling in a country whose language we completely ignore. Within all this software, we find solutions launched by giants like Google or Microsoft. Therefore, today we will recommend the best Apps to translate texts with your mobile camera automatically.

What these applications do is use the camera of your mobile to see the text you want to translate, usually take a photo, and process it online to translate it in real time by superimposing the translation on the original text as if it were augmented reality. Usually, with the first two or three you will have more than enough, but we have tried to make a slightly wider list.

Google Translator

With the Google seal, this App allows you to translate between 38 languages with your mobile camera instantly. It also allows you to translate 59 languages even if we don’t have a connection and up to 103 languages if we write the text.

If we try the application we will see that it allows us to translate text that we write on the screen, translate our voice and even translate text with the camera. The use of the camera is quite curious. since if we point to any image with the camera, it will alter the image in real time, showing us the translated text as if the original image were like that. A highly recommended translator, which also has support for Android Wear.

• The best : Recognition of offline languages, good level of translations.
• The worst : It does not recognize handwriting very well, if you are going to use the camera it will only work well with posters.

Google Translator is the best translation service that currently exists. However, if you find a text or image with text that you do not want to transcribe manually, the most practical thing is probably to use the cell phone camera. That is, you focus on what you want to translate and automatically on the screen you will see the translation.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE’S CAMERA TRANSLATOR ?

• Install the Google translator and open the application.
  
• Touch the camera button.
  
• Point the camera at the English text.
  
• Automatically and almost instantly you will see the Arabic translation on the screen.

Microsoft Translator

Microsoft also has its own translation alternative, free as Google’s and quite complete in functions, although still a bit slower. Even so, it allows to translate both texts and audios, including group conversations and has the function of translating texts with the camera, although it is not so advanced.

The difference is that at the moment the translation is not in real time, and that you do not point with the camera and translate, but take a photo and process it to superimpose the translations on it. It is not something that makes a lot of difference when you are going to translate a sign or a sign, but if you are in an environment where you can not read anything and want to point to one place and another it may be a bit slower.

• The best : offline translation, many translation tools.
• The worst : Slower recognizing text than its rivals.

iTranslate

Having been one of the best applications of the Apple App Store in 2015, iTranslate has continued to advance and has support for 100 languages. Its main functions are to translate texts or web pages, initiate voice conversations, and search for words, meanings or even verbal conjugations.

It also has the function of translation by camera, in which you have to take a photo of something that contains a text you want to translate, crop it to leave only the text and start the translation. The negative part is that this is a payment function, so you will have to pay the 3.33 euros per month that iTranslate Pro costs.

• The best : His optical recognition.
• The worst : It only translates with the camera and does not support offline recognition.

Yandex.Translate

Yandex is the great Russian search engine, the equivalent of Google in that country, and among its many functions is also the image translator. It allows you to translate from Russian or English to Spanish even offline by downloading the free languages, and has about 90 more languages supported for other types of translations.

But obviously, what concerns us today is its translator by camera. We just have to take a picture of a menu, a sign, the page of a book or choose a photo with text from your mobile and you can see a translation printed on the image. In this case, this function only works with internet connection as in the rest of the apps in the list.