Google has unveiled two new language tools:

Their new “Live Translate” feature on the Google Translate app (unfortunately, not available on the website) is pretty darn impressive.  Click on “Live Translate,” choose the two languages, and then converse away.  It’s not simultaneous, but the translation appears in text and in audio immediately after the person finishes speaking and you don’t have to keep on clicking it – one click at the beginning of the conversation is all it takes.

As I said, it’s pretty darn impressive, but they would truly have hit a homerun for teachers and students if they had two additional capabilities.  One, it could be an ideal way for a Newcomer to listen to a teacher in a content class with the student wearing an earbud.  It seems, however, to stop after any pause and expects you to respond in a different language.  I haven’t actually tried it for an extended period, though, so don’t really know if you don’t respond if it will continue to pick up the language of the other speaker.

The other capability that would be nice to have would be the ability to use it in a phone conversation.  That would sure make a lot of teachers lives easier and help a lot of parents/guardians.

Here’s a video about the new Live Translate feature:

Their other new feature – again on the app and not on the website – is the “Practice” button.  It uses AI to create scenarios of your choice to have conversations.  However, unless I’m somehow missing it (let me know if I am), it doesn’t seem to give you any feedback on your pronunciation.  For the life of me, I can’t understand why they wouldn’t include that ability.  Its absence reduces its utility considerably.

I’m adding this info to THE BEST RESOURCES TO HELP ELL STUDENTS WITH SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION IN THE CLASSROOM.