Google Translate is one of the services that has enabled many people with different language communicate. It is not perfect, but it is often considered the best of its kind. With its free availability, web integration and apps on mobile, you are just a few step away from translating a foreign language. If you have a recent Android device with almost recent Android version, Google Translate has a “Tap to Translate” feature. This feature lets you translate text on the fly from any app.
I have normally been using this to translate and learn a new language, but I found a neat trick to listen to news from the newsreader app. While this works on any app, I use the TTS aspect of it to not to have to read it with my eyes. After spending all day on the computer, they could use some rest.
Things you need:
- Google Translate app
- News reader app, or any app that you copy text from
For this to work, you need to have Google Translate app installed and running in the background. You need to have “Tap to Translate” setting turned on the settings. This feature is only available on the recent version of Android, so make sure you had and updated Android that supports the feature.
After that go to your favourite news app, I am using News360 for news. Then copy the text as you would normally do. The app has to let you copy the text. Some app might not allow you to do it.
As you copy the text, Google Translate app bubble pops up. As the bubble shows up, tap on it to open the bubble. Now tap on the speaker icon on the side of the text. After a moment it reads out the text aloud. I assume the audio is downloaded then played.
Now after a few moments, the app starts reading the text. You need to tap and hold any section of the Google Translate app with a finger as the display can turn off as you listen to it. The speaker icon changes to a “stop” icon which halts the audio. Tap anywhere outside the Google Translate app, and it closes as well.
Another funny aspect of this is, if you use other than English to read out English text, it reads it out with an accent. It was quite exciting to hear the news with a Turkish accent.
After you close the app, you can move on to copy other news or text to hear it out loud. The trick may not look big, resting your eyes have excellent benefit to your eyes. If only if the screen would not turn off automatically when Google Translate app was in the foreground. I tried using Automate app to accomplish it, but it did not work out properly.
Any recommendations to make this easier, or any other app that does it better? Then please post it in the comments. I loved the Umano app which had real voice actors to read out news. It was unfortunately was discontinued. The Tap to Translate, with the instant bubble feature makes it really convenient as having to copying it manually to the another Text to Speech application.
