Google Translate Is Getting An Upgrade

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An offline mode could help travelers when they need it most.

Google Translate is a useful tool for many people, but sometimes when you need it most, like in a remote jungle in a foreign country, it doesn't work.

That's why Google announced Tuesday that it will be updating the Google Translate feature for the Android app to include an offline mode, Mashable reports.

"Offline translations can be useful when traveling to other countries without a local data plan, if you don’t have access to internet," Julie Cattiau, Product Manager of Translate apps wrote in a blog post.

To do this, Google is implementing a phrase-based algorithm that uses an artificial intelligence-based translation system developed in collaboration with Google's deep learning team.

This, in turn, should also make translations more accurate, because it will take the whole phrase into consideration, instead of translating things in small chunks. See the difference in translations in the image below: 

A comparison between Google's current phrase-based machine translation (PBMT), new offline neural machine translation (on-device), and online neural machine translation.

The updated translation feature will be available in 59 languages. Look for it to roll out in the next few weeks.