Translator gets clipboard support, extra translation languages

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Much underrated (and not helped by a mass of copycat front ends in the Windows Phone Store), Translator (now without the Bing branding) is a terrific language tool for occasions when you're totally stuck in another country/tongue, even without access to roaming data. Whether passing the phone from person to person or translating written text or (old school) typing something in, Translator has you covered, now with extra languages and with the facility to copy translated text into another application.

Translator is perhaps the premier language tool on Windows Phone, here's the description in the Store:

Translator is your companion when you need to overcome the language barrier. Use your camera, voice or keyboard to enter text you want to translate. Use Bing Translator on-the-go, even when you don't have an Internet connection.

  • Text translation – Type and translate text into more than 40 languages.
  • Camera translation – Translate signs, menus, newspapers, or any printed text with your device's camera in an instant.
  • Voice translation – Translate by speaking into your phone. Voice translation requires a network connection.
  • Text to speech – Hear translations spoken with a native speaker's accent. Text to speech requires a network connection.
  • Offline translation – Translate when you are not connected to the Internet and when you want to avoid expensive data roaming charges, by using downloadable offline language packs.
  • Word of the Day – Improve your vocabulary by pinning the Translator to your Start screen.
  • Pin each mode to your Start screen and jump straight to translating in a single tap.
  • Copy and paste or use your keyboard to quickly enter the text you want to translate.

Here's the changelog for Translator v3.1 since v2.8, which we featured around a year ago:

  • Copy option for translated text
  • Offline translations for Vietnamese, Arabic, Polish, Turkish and Persian
  • Online translation for Maltese and Welsh
  • Camera translation for Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Polish and Turkish
  • Voice translation for Chinese
  • Automatic language detection in keyboard mode
  • Wide live tile

Here's Translator in action:

Screenshot, Bing TranslatorScreenshot, Bing Translator

The language choice is truly vast, with a growing number available for audio recognition and playback (and, by extension, with offline packs available); (right) interestingly and usefully, each module in Translator can be defaulted to a different language, depending on your needs and use case.

Screenshot, TranslatorScreenshot, Translator

Of the new improvements, you can now long press a translation to get 'copy' pop-up. Unusually, this actually 'shares' the text to an extra (new) utility, Clipboarder, which then copies the text into the system clipboard. It's... cumbersome, but it does work. 

Screenshot, TranslatorScreenshot, Translator

Hopefully a future update will do away with the need for the sharing via Clipboarder!

Terrific stuff. You can download Bing Translator 3.1 for free here in the Windows Phone Store.


Source / Credit: Windows Phone Store