How to Use Conversation Mode to Translate Speech Live on iPhone & iPad

Traveling to a foreign country is a great experience for sure, but one of the downsides is being unable to communicate properly with someone who speaks a different language. Apple aims to address this problem with the Translate app, an excellent feature on iPhone and iPad, that, as the name implies, allows you to translate languages. Conversation Mode is even better, in that it allows for live language translation while people are speaking, all using iPhone.

To compete against the likes of Google and Microsoft, Apple released a Translate app with iOS 14 or newer devices to make language translation easy and convenient. The app is pre-installed on iPhones and iPads running the latest version of iOS and supports 11 different languages. Sure, the language selection may seem scarce in comparison to Google Translate, but what’s interesting is its conversation mode feature that automatically detects and translates the language that’s being actively spoken into the microphone.

If you’re interested in trying out this feature yourself, read along and you’ll be live translating speech in no time, right from your iPhone or iPad. Note that your device must be connected to the internet to have live translation capabilities.

How to Use Conversation Mode to Translate Speech Live on iPhone & iPad

Before you go ahead with the following procedure, you need to make sure that your iPhone or iPad is running iOS 14 or later since the app isn’t accessible on older versions.

1. Launch the “Translate” app on your iPhone or iPad. If you can’t find the app in your home screen, use Spotlight search to see if it’s located in your app library.
   
   
2. By default, English is selected as the language to be translated. Tap the language option on the left to change it.
   
   
3. Now, simply select a language of your choice and scroll down to the very bottom. Here, tap on the toggle to enable automatic detection and then tap on “Done”.
   
   
4. Next, to choose the translated language, tap the language option located on the right, as indicated here. Once you’re done with the language selection, tap on the microphone icon to record external audio as shown here.
   
   
5. Now, simply speak the phrase or sentence that needs to be translated. You can speak in either of the languages that you selected and the app will automatically detect and translate the language that’s being spoken.
   
   
6. You’ll be able to view the translated text immediately within the app. To play the translated text as audio, tap on the play icon as shown in the screenshot below. You can continue using the conversation mode by tapping on the microphone icon again.
   
   

There you go, you’re now familiar with how the conversation mode within Apple’s Translate app works.

The next time when you’re having trouble communicating with someone who speaks a different language, grab the iPhone out of your pocket and open the Translate app for language translations in real-time using conversation mode.

If you want to try this out yourself and you don’t know anyone immediately to test with a foreign language, you can try playing a foreign language video on something like YouTube, and let the iPhone listen and translate that. Of course you won’t be talking back to the video in any way that is interactive, but it can demonstrate how the live translate feature works.

You can also use conversation mode while you’re offline, as long as you have the necessary languages downloaded to your phone. Offline translations can prove to be extremely useful in places where you’re unable to access the internet due to the lack of Wi-Fi or cellular network. For example, when you’re in the middle of a flight or if you’re in a remote location with no cellular connectivity. Languages can be downloaded for offline use from the language selection menu in the app.

Apart from translating your speech in real-time using conversation mode, Apple’s Translate app can also accept text input and convert it to the selected language. Simply type the phrase or sentence you want to translate in the “Enter text” area and you’re good to go.

What do you think of the Translate app and the automatic translation feature? How well does it work for you? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.