Google Search and Google Maps, along with Google Translate, just became even more indispensable for Android-toting travelers as Google has now added automatic translations of local reviews. When you’re out and about and you don’t happen to speak the language, Google will automatically translate all Search results and Maps entries for businesses into your native language, including reviews. This means that you get to see what the locals think of a particular landmark or business, be it a restaurant, store, or local attraction, without having to set anything up or lift a finger. The translation chooses the language for you based on your system language setting, and can translate to and from any language that the normal Google Translate can.
When viewing a card, or a business or landmark listing, the star ratings and reviews are typically shown in a single view, in their native language. Before today, this meant that an American tourist, for example, wanting to see how a Japanese bar compared to other local attractions, would have to either ask around, or run the Google Search entry for the place through Google Translate manually. Now, the user just has to pull up the result for the place, just like they would with any business back in their home country, and they’ll see a review translated to their own language, alongside the original, as shown below. Of course, this means that fledgling linguists studying the language of the country that they’ve traveled to can get a primer, and of course spot anything that should be corrected, if they know the language well enough.
Aside from the addition of automatic translations of reviews, the user experience in Maps and Search remains the same when traveling abroad. This means that features like seeing which reviews were left by trustworthy Local Guides are also on board, and users will have no trouble finding a great spot to spend some time. It should be noted that this functionality is available for both the app and web versions of Maps and Search, and does not require the Google Translate app. There have been no changes to Google Translate, so people using that app will not notice any differences from its normal functionality.