- Excuse me, could I ask you a question?
(pocket translator speaking in foreign language)
- I think this is the weirdest conversation
you and I have ever had.
- [Narrator] This is Barcelona
and this is Alex Rawlings, he's a.
- I am a journalist, a writer
and a filmmaker and a polyglot.
(soft music)
- [Narrator] He's also the author of
"How to speak any language fluently".
- I spent my whole life telling people
about the benefits of learning languages
and learning languages myself.
- [Narrator] So a better person to help us test this.
- A brand new Pocketalk device, which is a live translator
which in theory should replace the need
of learning foreign languages.
to see whether I can communicate
with people in Barcelona using it.
(soft music)
- [Narrator] Why did we pick this translator?
A few reasons, with the click of one button,
it can translate 82 different languages
and it claims to translate conversations
not just statements.
- Lets set the languages
I'm setting the input language to English, UK
and the output language to Spanish, Spain.
- [Narrator] It has noise canceling microphones
and speakers so speak in one language
and outcomes another.
- We have a microphone on this side, a speaker
and a microphone on this side.
So presumably you can use it like this to talk.
- [Narrator] It's smaller than a smartphone
but it still has a touch screen
and it comes with two years of cellular data.
So those traveling don't need to worry
about an international data plan.
- This feels like a very comfortable thing
to have in my pocket
and very easy to whip out whenever I need it
and it's extremely light actually
I barely feel like I've got a device in my hand at all.
- [Narrator] It also has a camera
for translating signs and menus.
It costs $299, but is it worth it?
- So I've designed three tests today
to see how well the Pocketalk device performs.
First up, we're going to try
for a simple, typical tourist interaction.
Could I have a coffee with soy milk please?
(pocketalk speaking in foreign language)
(waitress speaking in foreign language)
(Alex speaking in foreign language)
(waitress speaking in foreign language)
- [Pocketalk] Right now.
- Okay, so the first direction seemed to go quite well.
She didn't seem to react weirdly
for me speaking to her through a live translation machine
and when she brought my coffee, she brought soy milk
so that passed the test as well.
(soft music)
Could you tell me the way to the cathedral please?
(pocketalk speaking in foreign language)
(passerby speaking in foreign language)
- One second.
(passerby speaking in foreign language)
- [Pocketalk] Look, you go up Viary Lane
and when you get to Jaime's height
you first have your left hand.
- Sorry, could you tell me that again?
I'm not sure, I understood
what was the way to the cathedral please?
(pocketalk speaking in foreign language)
(passerby speaking in foreign language)
- One second.
(passerby speaking in foreign language)
- [Pocketalk] You Keep walking
until you reach the main street that is Via Laietana
and you go up and on the left,
when you get to Jaime you will first see it.
- I'm not sure it fully understood my accent,
I'm not sure it really understood the person
in the streets accent.
At some point, when I asked
do you know the way to the cathedral?
I think it thought I said
do you know the weight of the cathedral?
There are also moments where I think
it took a really long time to actually translate.
So I'm trying to stop someone in the street
who's in a rush and luckily Barcelona is a relaxed city.
So it's not such a big problem
so I'd say that I'm not sure we can say
that it passed that test.
Now for the hardest trial
that I'm gonna put this device through.
This is my friend Ash, he's a tattoo artist from Egypt
he's been living here in Barcelona
and normally when we see each other we speak English.
But this time he's going to speak to me in Egyptian, Arabic.
When this device is speaking Arabic
do you understand it very well?
What are the things that is translating?
What is it not translating?
(pocketalk speaking in foreign language)
(Ash speaking in foreign language)
- [Pocketalk] It is fine,
it's just necessary to answer the Arabic language in Egypt
but work within a hospital with a translator.
All words translate correct words and wrong words.
- I didn't understand any of the translation
of what Ash was saying to her.
It was saying all sorts of weird words, weird constructions.
Ash said that it understood my English very well
and it was translating my English
into pretty good standard Arabic.
But the thing with Arabic
is that everybody speaks regional languages.
So that's what the device is claim that
it is able to pick up and translate colloquial language
in a really good way
I've got to say, I'm not entirely sure that was a success.
- [Narrator] A Pocketalk spokesman said,
"We are constantly updating our software
to improve performance.
Translating slang and various dialects
can be difficult to get right 100% of the time."
He added, "The speed of translation
depends on the strength of the user signal."
So where did Alex net out?
- I would probably give this device three stars.
It's a great piece of kit,
it's a great size, very portable
and for basic transactions buying things in shops
it definitely does what it's supposed to do.
But if you have aspirations of being
more than just a transactional person in a foreign country
I don't think this device is really gonna cut it.
(singing in foreign language)
- No.