# spanish speech recognition for smart phones



## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I have been making a lot of use of iTranslate on my android smartphone. I don't make much use of the dictation feature though. I trade the phone back and forth with people and we take turns punching in messages to talk. Everyone seems pretty happy to do this with me, which is great. 

But some people have tried to dictate in spanish. It's never recognized. I can dictate in English and it works if there isn't too much background noise and I speak slowly. 

Is there something I can do or download to get spanish language recognition enabled on my android phone, similar to downloading a spanish keyboard?

As a related note, what's your favorite translation app, if you use one a lot?


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Oh, never mind, I figured it out. If I click the little icon to flip around the order then it takes spanish dictation already.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

I've used Google Translate and I believe that it has the same features as iTranslate. I was thinking about downloading iTranslate and see if there are any differences, but laziness got hold of me. Google is working for me.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

eastwind said:


> Oh, never mind, I figured it out. If I click the little icon to flip around the order then it takes spanish dictation already.


fwiw : my Spanish is in its infancy as well, and I have a smartphone - but I've never used the phone for translation. What I do do is print off pictures of things I am shopping for and then wing it at ferraterias etc. I take photos and show people at times. When I send emails to a broad audience of spanish OR english speaking people I post my impression of both interpretations. 

When we first got here I hooked up with a great personal Spanish tutor. We are still close but she has 'grown-up'. I tried duolingo and that was useful. Most recently I visit Memrise.com...


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I'm still way too busy getting set up here to think about spanish lessons. I've been stuck in my apartment all day as various people come through working on things. 

Two days ago I got a new p-trap drain installed under my kitchen sink, so it doesn't smell, but now it leaks. The clothes dryer takes forever to dry. The maid is insistent that I get it fixed, because she wants to wash sheets and towels weekly (not necessary IMHO) and it takes too long to dry them. The internet has been off and on as the apartment manager for some reason decided or was told by iZZi that she had to cancel the old account and start a new one. Today they sent a guy out who insisted on replacing the working-fine decoders that were registered to the account with new ones.

I have used the translation program with all these people: the apartment manager, the maid, the cable TV guy, and the guy who installed the P-trap (just a little, mostly I showed him a picture), and the guy who gave me the 35 pesos haircut. Everyone seems very happy to be able to communicate without either of us having to understand a foreign language. I'm actually surprised at people's willingness to put up with typing everything in two-thumb mode.

I bit the inside of my cheek and wanted some anbesol or equivalent to help it heal and the pharmacy I picked, in spite of being a big one on a big street just into town from the hotel zone, didn't have anyone that spoke english. But I typed in that I wanted an "oral analgesic for sores on the cheek or gum" and she got it immediately and returned with exactly what I wanted. 

Now when I was NoB I used to put powdered alum on such sores - an old home remedy that works very well. But I didn't think I had a chance of finding any powdered alum, it's hard to find in the US too (it's primarily used for making pickles)


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

I'm sorry - but in Cancun I suspect that most of the people you are interacting with are as fluent in English as you are - and they are smiling internally as you struggle to communicate with them in Espanglsh. 

Cancun was one of our favorite weekend getaways when we were working in South Florida. About an hour direct flight from Miami.


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