Pixel Buds - Where Translation Services Begin or End? - Creative Word

Google’s innovative Pixel Buds, recently unveiled by the US technology giants, are set to revolutionise language translation.

The launch, on Wednesday October 4th, showcased the Pixel Buds translating several languages in real time, and claimed they will initially support 40 different languages through the use of earphones and language technology, such as, Google Translate and Google Assistant.

Released alongside the Pixel 2, Google’s new smart phone, the equipment will enable users to press the right earbud to request a translation, which when spoken aloud responds with the phrase in the required language. The reply is then translated back into the first language for the user to hear.

Languages such as Arabic, Chinese, and French are supported by the new technology, and the launch demonstrated the earphones with a conversation between an English speaker and a Swedish speaker with astonishing response times.

This translation technology will enable users to order dinner at a French restaurant, ask directions to their hotel in Dubai, or haggle in the markets of Indonesia, all at the touch of a button.

With a release date of November 2017 and a pre-order price of $159, these are sure to be a firm favourite for frequent travellers and businesses alike. For those of you who absolutely must have one though, there are serious choices to be made as colour options for the headset include; Just Black, Clearly White and Kinda Blue to coordinate with the Pixel 2 Phone. A portable charging case, adding five hours of listening time, accompanies the Pixel buds.

The repercussions of this language technology however, remains to be seen – will language courses, translators and interpreters become diminishing entities, relegated to history books? Or, will technology stumble and fail to encompass language complexity and prominence?

Is this potentially the end of what we know to be translation services? Or possibly just the beginning?