Google Translate app now allows to translates street signs and real-time conversations. ~ Rishabh Sharma

Need is the mother of invention, this proverb suits perfect to this post. The dream of universal language translation device making is turning from fiction to reality seemed preposterous. Google Translate, is rapid becoming that device. The latest update of this service of Google now includes seamless conversation and foreign text translation.

Voice translation has been available for the Android version of the Google Translate app since the end of 2013. It could only translate one phrase at a time, however. The new version of this app can work as a real-time translator between two people speaking different languages.

To use the real-time speech translation in a conversational setting, users of the app just need to open the app and press the microphone button. If speech in a foreign language is detected first it will be immediately translated into the user's native language, spoken aloud and displayed on-screen. The user can then press the microphone button again to respond in their mother tongue and have it immediately translated to the foreign language.

From this point forward, the app will recognize both languages in conversation and will translate them each time a phrase is uttered. No need to press the microphone button again, and the individuals are able to have a seamless conversation with their smartphone or tablet acting as interpreter.

And one more thing added to the speech translation functionality, this app also has a Word Lens function. This allows users to focus their device's camera on some foreign text, such as a street sign, and get an instant translation on-screen. In the earlier versions on the app, it was possible for users using the Android app to take a photo of text and use the app to translate it, but current update makes the process more easy.

Word Lens can currently translate from English to and from French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Google says it is "working to expand to more languages."