The feature does what I described for the Apple AirPods: It delivers translated foreign-language speech through the Pixel Buds while outputting translated English words through the phone speaker. That’s what happens in Conversation Mode. When users switch to Transcribe Mode, they can get a live transcription of the translated foreign language, which is useful for listening to business presentations, attending speeches, or watching movies.
The Pixel Buds’ language translation feature works via the excellent Google Translate app. In Conversation Mode, it supports more than 100 languages; Transcribe Mode, however, only supports four languages: French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
Language translation requires an Android device running Android 6.0 or later that’s Google Assistant-enabled, including non-Pixel phones. However, if you do have an advanced Pixel phone, the translation gets much better.
This story originally appeared on Computerworld
