Thanks to the latest tech innovations, language is no longer a hindrance to establishing a connection among different groups of people. One good example of this is the continued use of tools and apps that can instantly translate a language into another language or dialect. Now, if you’re looking for a handy translator that you can use on your Android smartphone or tablet, you might as well check out this app called Floating Translator.

What Is It and What Does It Do

Main Functionality

Floating Translator is a simple floating translator and dictionary app for Android. This app is free to use plus it currently supports multiple languages so you can easily translate words without the need to close your current application. It’s also very easy to use. Just tap its floating bubble to open the translation window. After which, type the word that you want to translate or define then press enter. When not in use, you can also opt to keep the app hidden in your notification area.

Pros

• Easy to use
• Neat, stable and responsive UI
• Supports multiple languages such as English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, Chinese, Bengali, Catalan, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Turkish and Vietnamese
• Features a floating window that can be used alongside with your other apps
• Non-obtrusive layout – you can minimize the app as a floating bubble, you can also block or hide it to your notification area
• Has a built-in dictionary
• You can change the size of the floating bubble from very small to regular to gigantic
• You can do reverse translation in just one tap (ex. English to Spanish then Spanish to English)

Cons

• While the app shows some great potential, there are still a lot of aspects where it appears to fall short. However, this is quite expected since the app is still in beta.
• Needs to incorporate an option for translating phrases and full-length texts and web pages

Discussion

Considering the fact that Floating Translator is still on its beta stage, you can’t really expect it to be able to work as smoothly as Easy Language Translator and Google Translate. Furthermore, this app is still unable to translate phrases and full-length web pages but it’s good for translating foreign words that you might stumble upon while reading a book, comic or novel.

Anyways, one of the most notable features of Floating Translator is its user interface. Just as its name suggests, this app can be used alongside with your other apps since it will just float on your screen – a feature that you cannot easily find on other language translation apps. Apart from this, this app also features a built-in dictionary that you can use to look for quick definitions and word synonyms.

In addition, Floating Translator makes sure that it won’t get in the way while you’re reading or watching something. This is because you can easily switch its floating window into a resizable floating bubble. You can even drag the bubble anywhere or lock it to a specific area and in just a single tap, you can easily restore its window and use it to translate or define words that you cannot understand.

As of its latest version, Floating Translator can translate various languages such as English, Spanish, Japanese, German, Korean, Chinese, Italian, etc. To use this app, you simply need to type the word that you want to translate and indicate the language that you want. After that, press enter. The translation will show up in just a matter of seconds.

Functionality wise, this app still needs further improvement but it certainly does have the potential. Its translation results are also accurate but there were times where it failed to translate and recognize some Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters.

Conclusion and Download Link

The best thing about Floating Translator is its floating UI. It’s also user-friendly, reliable and responsive. Plus, it flaunts a built-in dictionary. However, this app still lacks in many aspects so you really cannot expect it to be as good as Easy Language Translator or Google Translate. Simply put, this app is more suitable for users who are often looking for word-for-word translations of the text or pages that they are reading. It’s just not meant for intensive translation tasks like translating an entire document or page.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 0.5.5

Requires: Android 4.0.3 and up

Download size: 3.8MB

Floating Translator on Play Store