Our travels are made easier by the fact that Gina speaks very good Spanish, the product of 8 years of schooling and some time bouncing around Mexico. The kids and I are trying…actually Gigi is amazing how much she has picked up in a few short months.

For those words she doesn’t know Gina uses her handy pocket dictionary, she takes this with her everywhere she goes.  I had a portable, electronic language translator on my list of cool gadgets to purchase…but could not bring myself to buy it mainly because Gina could speak the language.  If/when we venture to a country whose language we do not speak, I am sure to pick up one of these handy language translators.

Here are the top 3 translators I found during my research of which products to buy:

1.    This product by Franklin is an English/Spanish only dictionary, but with our plans to travel in Latin America this would work great.  What I thought was really cool is that they say “…extra attention given to the unique Spanish of Central and South America…” which really fits perfect for our travel plans.

We are definitely seeing differences between the languages (ok, Gina is but she is telling me about them), we already have 4 different words for pen…

2.    If you want something a little more high-tech, and who doesn’t, this talking translator by Franklin may be just the thing.  Again, this is a Spanish/English only dictionary, but it features a built-in Rolodex organizer with telephone book and world clock, and a calculator and metric/currency converter for quick math.  Pretty cool and the metric conversion is sure to come in handy.

3.    For those looking for a multi-language translator, the Voyager III translates 20 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean.

If you have used any of these products lets us know what you thought of them.  And if you like or dislike a language translator that we have not mentioned here please provide a review so that others can learn what products to consider for their needs.

Sean Lannin wrote this article for AffordableCallingCards.net where he blogs about his life as an expat.  He also writes a personal blog Portable Parents about his travels in Latin America with his family.  Come by both blogs and share a comment!

Tags: Language Barriers, Translation

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