Talking Alexander: The Ultimate Language Companion! (Sponsored)

Have you ever tried to mime ‘wheat allergy’ in a Spanish restaurant? How about requesting directions to the nearest dry ski slope in Italy without the help of a phrasebook? And God help you if you’ve ever tried to ask for diarrhoea tablets in a Greek chemist! You’ll never find yourself in any of these situations again with your new travelling friend Talking Alexander, a free iPhone app that serves as your translator when you are in foreign countries.

The basis of the app is fairly simple, although its benefits are very far-reaching; there are over 300 useful phrases that have been professionally translated into 11 languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Russian, Dutch, Chinese and Japanese), which you can activate at the press of a button. The app then produces the word or phrase in the correct language and accent for you to mimic, learn or hold up to your waiter’s ear! The phrases are organised into 23 different categories, which include Renting a car, Telling time, Directions, Accommodation, Phone calls, Sending postcards, Internet, Going shopping, Bargaining, Clothes and Books.

You can learn any number by typing it into the app and it will emit the correct pronunciation of it in your selected language, as well as using advanced text-to-speech technology to type a word or phrase (in English or in the foreign language) into the pronunciation box and have the app play it back to you.

A really cool feature of the app is that you can download over 40 different voices, so if you tire of hearing the same one repeat phrases over and over again then you can change it in for a brighter, more appealing voice. The app also allows you to toggle the ‘Voice Speed’ so that it makes recognising and understanding the pronunciation a lot easier.

What I really like about Talking Alexander is that you don’t need an internet connection to activate the phrases and voices, so you don’t have to worry about clocking up costly roaming charges. The only cost incurred will be the in-app purchases for each voice and language, although this can work to your benefit as you can just choose the languages that you’ll need for each holiday.

Summary

For anyone going on holiday who is not a natural linguist (i.e. most people), this app is a must have; it just makes the whole process of talking to the country’s native speakers so much smoother. With such a vast range of popular languages at your fingertips, you can pick and choose which language to carry around in your pocket.

Pros

The app is smooth to use and easy to navigate, with simple instructions telling you how to change phrases from English into another language and vice versa.

Even with the in-app purchases, it’s still about a thousand times cheaper than hiring your own translator.

With the number pronunciation function, you’ll never be ripped off for a taxi again!

Room For Improvement

I suppose that it does take the fun out of trying to barter with a French shop assistant by simply raising your voice…but that’s the kind of fun that most people can do without!