Google has been busy improving its Translate app similar to how it made Google Messages and Google Maps more useful than one could ever imagine. Google accomplished this by adding many new capabilities to these apps. Now it would appear that the next app to get the Swiss Army Knife treatment from Google will be Google Translate. The app translates one trillion words every month, according to Google, and last month we told you that the app has started helping users learn a new language. This would seem to be right in Google Translates' wheelhouse.
Google Translate now has two translation models users can choose from.
Two new experimental buttons that say "Understand" and "Ask" were also added recently to Google Translate. The former is the grammar example of a math question where the teacher tells the students to show their work. With the "Understand" button, the Translate app shows the reasoning behind a specific translation. In other words, the app will show "how and why certain words or phrases were interpreted and translated."
With the "Ask" button, the user can ask Google Translate for a customized or improved translation. Some of the requests made by users would include:
A translation using a different tone such as formal, casual, or simplified.
Ask for alternative translations.
Ask to see a regional variant of the translation.
Ask AI to use something specific in a sentence.
Now Google Translate is adding a model picker to the app allowing users to choose between two different translation models for use with Google Translate. The model picker will appear under the "Google Translate" logo in a pill at the top of the app. The two models you can choose from include "Advanced" and "Fast." The former is the model that you should use when you have a complex translation that you want done accurately. Google adds that "Advanced" is supported for translation of text only in certain languages." Those languages are English to and from Spanish and French.
New translation model pickers for Google Translate with Advanced on the left and Fast on the right. | Image credit-9to5Google
On the other hand, you would choose "Fast" when you need something translated quickly. Users will select the model they want by tapping on the aforementioned pill-shaped button. This look and process is similar to how users of the Gemini app can select the model they want to use with the chatbox.
When to use "Fast" and when to use "Accurate"
The "Fast" translation model might come in handy when you're on the road and need a street sign translated, or when you're looking over a menu printed in a foreign language and the toe-tapping waiter looks as though he wanted your order 10 minutes ago. The "Advanced" translation model would come in handy if you were given documents in a foreign language that your boss wants you to read and understand perfectly. It is uncertain whether Google will charge for the ability to use the "Advanced" or "Fast" models for the Google Translate app.
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Another reason why you might consider using the "Faster" model would be a discovery that you made that Google Translate was too slow performing a particular translation task using a certain language. You might choose "Accurate" when you've discovered that using the app to translate certain languages or text resulted in translations that were not correct
While the model picker for Google Translate has not yet been made available for Android devices, some iPhone users have seen it appear on their iOS-powered handset. So far, it has yet to appear on my iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 26.2 Beta 1.
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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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