Franklin's 12-language speaking translator

As international jet-setters, we're always looking for tools that make it a little easier to hit on women discuss the latest gadgets with our foreign friends and colleagues. Usually we employ an electronic, translating dictionary for this task, but we always end up sounding like idiots as we futilely attempt to pronounce those crazy words they use in other languages. Well luckily for us, Franklin has just introduced a pocket translator that will put an end to our pathetic gibberish, as the new TGA-490 is actually able to speak aloud over 450,000 words and 12,000 phrases. What's more, you can forget about the old school machine-speak from back in the OK Computer days -- Franklin's device spits out human-sounding words recorded by real humans. All your favorite languages are supported here -- including Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean -- and you can translate back and forth among any of them, not just with English. Other nice touches include an MP3 player (of course), currency converter, world clock, alarm, and the ever-present voice recorder. No word yet on price or release, but when you begin to notice an uptick in the quality of our foreign-sourced posts, you'll know that the 490 has indeed hit store shelves.

[colaaddict @ Jan 16th 2007 7:10AM]

wow it even has an integrated korean keyboard

[Deluxe @ Jan 16th 2007 7:24AM]

Just install the Korean IME and you can have the same :P.

[funkycoldm3dina @ Jan 16th 2007 7:38AM]

I so need this gadget. Can someone tell me when and where i can buy this in the united kingdom. reason being that I do chinese herbal medicine and my practitioner, dr shue speaks very little english and i would love to converse with him. also i think it is about time that i learnt to speak chinese instead of the other people learning to speak english. I would at least be able to say more than 'ni hao'!

[Parry Cadwallader @ Jan 16th 2007 7:57AM]

http://www.franklin.com/estore/dictionary/TGA-490/

Price: $229.25
Expected release: Jan 07

Should be coming out soon.

[Misty @ Jan 16th 2007 8:26AM]

Sadly, it doesn't do Thai, so is useless to me. Looks awesome otherwise!

[MichaelLC @ Jan 16th 2007 9:00AM]

I've always liked Thai too; got a good subtle spice, and their use of herbs is always excelent.

[Matt B @ Jan 16th 2007 10:02AM]

Google Translater is free.

[Tony Rayo @ Jan 16th 2007 10:06AM]

No offense guys, but your english language articles have enough mistakes in themselves =p (zomg, all editors are WoW Gold Farmers!!). Seems like a great device at a good price. I'm glad to see more and more devices use recorded speech for phrases as well (PC-talk just isn't there yet, although the person listening could probably figure it out).

However this product is also not for me. I am studying Japanese and will travel to Hawaii/Tokyo (don't be jealous, I don't have any next-gen hardware, new PC or HDTV to be able to make this happen... frag a n00b in Gears of War for me pls *sheds a single tear*) and would like to see a product with a larger focus on English Japanese than support more languages with less data.

I do however have a PSP and DS Lite (savings be damned, I am still a gamer and have found myself on subways/buses a lot) and am still disappointed that Sony never ported over their "Talkman" software - http://www.talkmanpsp.com - to allow english input =/.

See you in the future,
Tony R.

[potato @ Jan 16th 2007 10:44AM]

Wow, I speak Chinese and the translation on that image stinks :P It's a *correct* translation, it's just that it's too literal: you're trying to express the sentiment of gratitude and satisfaction, but it comes off as an odd and unusual compliment.

We can translate literal meaning, but seldom can be translate business etiquette and culture ;)

[Jamar @ Jan 16th 2007 10:53AM]

yeah... I thought something about that translation didn't sit right with me... On another topic this looks bad- I wish that Sharp would take their domestic market dictionaries and sell them in the US (especially that one with the TV).

[Jamar @ Jan 16th 2007 10:53AM]

yeah... I thought something about that translation didn't sit right with me... On another topic this looks bad- I wish that Sharp would take their domestic market dictionaries and sell them in the US (especially that one with the TV).

[Frank @ Jan 16th 2007 10:49AM]

[ENG]It is my pleasure sending american jobs to your country so that our shareholders can make more money. I can give you a great tip on a gated community in the states.

[CHI]stoopid yankee giv us rotta dorrars. un gah!!

[thom @ Jan 16th 2007 11:58AM]

Radiohead FTW

[Derek @ Jan 16th 2007 2:18PM]

I'm taking a chinese class, and the picture seems to not even be the correct PINYIN. You are supposed to have accent characters which tell you exactly how to say it. For example, it might tell you "ma ma ma" for "mother horse numb" - without the accents it's useless.

[Ray-- @ Jan 16th 2007 2:50PM]

I too need this gadget to better communicate with my chinese tatoo artist. I'd hate to get another tatoo about general tsao's chicken...

[Grant @ Jan 16th 2007 3:31PM]

Ray:
"another tatoo about general tsao's chicken"
lmao.
hope the first one turned out nice.

but besides the obvious limitations of the asian languages on this thing, i'm sure it's great for the other, less complicated roman alphabet using languages. not to meantion that even the sloppiest translation is useless without knowing how to pronounce it.

[Aaron @ Jan 16th 2007 4:26PM]

Anyone read Galapagos?

[walrus @ Jan 17th 2007 1:12AM]

We just need to invest our money in cheap, breedable neural fish that warp your brainwaves and will some day solve the theological problems of our time with a philosophical quandry. Thanks for the wasted research dollars, you Franklin bastards.

[Fill @ Jan 18th 2007 1:15AM]

This looks great and all, but where's the "I" key??!

[Robert @ Jan 19th 2007 3:55PM]

Ectaco just produced ECTACO Partner XL-1500 Multilingual Talking Dictionary and it's
available on the company website:
http://www.ectaco.com/ECTACO-XL1500/

This model has voice for all words and much deeper vovbilry

[James @ Jan 19th 2007 3:57PM]

Ectaco just produced a new model for 15 lnguages:
ECTACO Partner XL-1500 Multilingual Talking Dictionary
It's available on Ectaco website:
http://www.ectaco.com/ECTACO-XL1500/

This model has voice for each word nd much deeper vocabulary

[lalit @ Feb 8th 2007 1:00AM]

i am lalit arora from india and just came to know about your company.....well plzz guide me that which product will be best for me to have for my business purpose?? every second month i visit china for my business and i face lot of problem in communication..well my requirement is that if i write a sentence in english then my device should change it in chinese n can speak also in chinese so that i can make hear to the chinese person.......
soo i hope you will tell me the best product for my purpose which can go easy with my travelling....
where it is available in china..dear friends plz let me know

[Danny @ Mar 13th 2007 2:44AM]

How is the russian translation? Most russians don`t understand the words that i take from dictionary translations ,or it`s not the right context, will it be up to date russian , they don`t use alot of the word`s in the translations

[dark mirage @ Jun 1st 2009 1:22PM]

The Chinese translations offered in this gadget is way too formal. You don't have to use "nin" all the time. Also, as was said by someone earlier, it would have been better if the pinyin was included. I learned my Mandarin Chinese better with the help of those tone indicators.