What is the best translator device? The picture depicts our 3 top picks.

A summary of how the electronic translator market presented itself in 2016

The year 2016 can be summarized as a time of great farewells but also as a time of great greetings. There were several reissues and returns. Noticeable was also a tendency to move away from traditional forms of innovation in the field of hardware.

Farewell Franklin  

American manufacturer of electronic translators existing in the market since the 80`s withdrew from its activities. The last device, which fans of the brand, were able to buy in the summer of this year would forever (or at least for the moment) be extinct. Say goodbye to the old and very popular Franklin Dictionary.

Farewell Luxa and P900

Ectaco does not want to fall out of the market, feeling the breath of competition as the market-leading Vasco Electronics are also abandoning their traditional form of foldable devices (foldable devices with a keyboard) and are moving to a more modern hardware with touch screen with their line of translators. It is true that the number of translations still cannot compare with what the competitors offer but it may indicate trends, which are being led by products such as the Traveler and Translator from Vasco Electronics.

Premiere of the C-Pen Dictionary

The novelty of 2016 was definitely the C-Pen Dictionary. It is a clever translating device, equipped with an Oxford dictionary which is available in seven languages. It will flourish with certainly in the hands of those who know English and want to expand their language skills or expand their range, e.g. in Chinese, Russian or French.

The premiere of the Vasco Traveler Solid 2

Awarded in 2015, the Vasco Traveler Solid has lived to see its worthy successor in 2016. The manufacturer improved the new hardware - far faster processor and more RAM, which affect the speed of all applications on this device, as well as increase the capacity for data storage. The younger brother of the Vasco Solid has been equipped with a battery with a larger capacity which significantly extends the operating time. An additional advantage can be the refreshed and new appearance of the device itself, as well as the applications which seem to work better and better every year.

Class A+ devices from Vasco Electronics

I think that anyone who had the opportunity to try the Vasco Translator with a dedicated scanner for text, will admit that I was right, it really was a high-class device. Particularly impressive is its fluidity of operation and incredible intuitiveness of the scanner. Connecting to a Vasco device is done quickly and with a single button, the ability to scan long text by line for someone like me, who is a connoisseur of the foreign press, is the perfect support system.

The premiere of the five-inch device with a scanner preceded the world release of the devices with a QWERTY keyboard. For me, a strong supporter of touch screens, this solution is not a big step forward, it is sure to satisfy those who appreciate the traditional form of text input into the translator. The device is comfortable, light and certainly suited to the business conquests abroad.

And what about 2017?

2016 was full of a wealth of new releases, premieres and farewells. Rumours say that the coming year of 2017 will not fail us in this respect, but I will write about it soon.

What is the best electronic language translator?

Have you ever travelled outside the borders of your country? Have you ever tried to communicate in a language in which you have not learned one single word? An electronic voice translator is a great help in such situations. With a voice translator, you don't have to worry about heavy dictionaries or phrasebooks, and you don't have to have a hard time finding the words you're missing. All that is necessary is to say or type the words into the translation device, and within seconds you will have the translation in the language you want - including a function that will translate voice for you.

The market is saturated with electronic translators. Do you know what to look for to pick the best translator device? Below are a few tips:

A woman wondering which voice translator to choose

LANGUAGE

First, verify what language is spoken in the country or countries you are traveling to. The first feature you should check when buying a translator is the list of languages they translate, to make sure they include the languages you will need. If you travel a lot, it is best to buy a true multilingual translator. Is the vocabulary limited with multilingual versions? Not in every case. If you buy a high quality translation device, it is not.

SPEECH TRANSLATION

Second, do you want your electronic translator to feature speech recognition? State-of-the-art technology allows you to talk to it, not just type. Sounds great, doesn't it? Say "hello" and you'll hear "ciao" in Italian in less than 2 seconds! Keep in mind that voice recognition technology is still fairly new. It still requires a connection to the internet. If it doesn't, accuracy plummets. Be sure to focus on translators with an internet connection if you want to accurately translate voice

VOCABULARY

Imagine you are taken to a Laotian hospital. How can you hold a conversation with the hospital staff in an emergency if your voice translator doesn't know any medical words? Vocabulary range is a very important characteristic of an electronic translator. A wide vocabulary also guarantees the accuracy of the translation. High-priced translators usually have a larger vocabulary and better translation accuracy. See below.

WHY CAN’T I JUST GET A TRANSLATION APP FOR MY SMARTPHONE?

People tend to wonder about this. The answer is that having a separate, conveniently-sized translation device makes for smoother conversations (e.g. less buttons to press), more accurate translations (due to the larger database of languages), longer battery life (you won’t drain your phone, which is not ideal in a foreign country), and lower or even non-existent costs of international data usage (which can be expensive for smartphones). Premium-quality translation devices cost less than $300, and can easily last a lifetime. You could spend that much in 8 weeks abroad on data roaming charges alone using your smartphone as a translator. Having a separate translation device may not be for everyone, but thousands of people worldwide prefer it.

ACCURACY

You certainly wouldn’t want to offend anyone with an unfortunate translation. That's why you should go for a device with the most accurate machine translation possible. The very newest in machine translation is statistical translation. This means that the translation device simply looks up databases to find the most accurate translation available. The bigger the database, the more accurate the translation is. Remember that the best and biggest language databases need to be accessed online, so the translator needs the internet.

LANGUAGE LEARNING

Electronic translators often come with apps that make learning new languages easier. Such apps talk to you, test your grammar and check your vocabulary knowledge. Forget boring books, just take a translator with you on your way every day and learn even more efficiently. Translate voice and learn!

FUNCTIONALITY

Electronic translators often come with apps that make learning new languages easier. Such apps talk to you, test your grammar and check your vocabulary knowledge.

A LAST BIT OF ADVICE

To sum up, electronic translators are for anyone who has even the slightest contact with any foreign language. And you don’t have to be an international traveler to need a translation device. Perhaps you are new to English language and a recent arrival in this country, or perhaps you provide services to people who don’t speak English, like at an airport or hotel, or even more seriously, as a first responder providing precious life-saving care in emergency situations. A translator device gives you the Power of Understanding.

What is the best electronic language translator? The answer may not be all that clear. Find the best translator device for your needs. This ranking will help you do that.