Franklin Speaking 14 Language Translator with Merriam-Webster Dictionary EST-5014

I am about to embark on my first trip outside the good ole' USA, heading to Paris & possibly Amsterdam. One of my concerns is communication & money exchange. After purchasing & returning within a day, another translator, I did my homework on this one & found it had much better features that will help me. I received it within about a week & a half & immediatlely found it to be something I will benefit from. One feature I was specifically looking for was a backlight. Without it, if you're in a dimly lit area, it will be no good to you. I've only had it for a day & found it to be pretty easy to use. Of course, there are many features I've yet to learn about, but I'll be happy with the basics. The voices are very clear & not robotic. The main language you choose is a man's voice & the translated voice is a woman's. The screen is easy to read & there is an adjustment for the size of the text. The translator itself is about the size of a cell phone. It comes with a carrying case, ear phones, batteries & computer connector. Although I still need to familiarize myself with the many features, I highly recommend this product.

I should have bought this translator early enough to get some real practice with the languages BEFORE our European trip. It was handy for correct pronunciation while on the trip and for looking up some words. But specialty words are not there. (I was trying some sewing and needlework terms.) I don't think you could really learn a language well with this device but you could get lots of practice and make it through a trip certainly. Plus, it is fun to explore the languages. If you really want to get the most out of your foreign travel, you have to make an effort to learn the basics of the language before you go. How fun it would be if I could comfortably speak and understand a language so I could chat with the locals!

My mother lives in Korea and wanted a translator that she could key in the Korean text (in Korean letters, not romanized) and find out the English meaning and this does just that. It also has Arabic and Cyrillic characters on the keyboard. It does NOT have Japanese or Chinese characters on the keyboard. If you are purchasing this as a gift - when the descriptions says "Allows for Pinyin (Chinese) and Romaji (Japanese) input via QWERTY keys" it means that the characters are not on the keyboard and you have to know how to pronounce the words phoenetically in order to translate them. I had to conclude from that that they meant the others ARE included on the keyboard so I thought I'd make it easier for someone else to figure that out - The other three languages using different character sets do appear on the keyboard so that actual input would match say a sign or menu.

I was going to Japan for a bit and bought this dictionary for obvious reasons, because of the relatively decent reviews it had, and it would be good to use when I go on vacations in other places as well. I had taken a Japanese class 7 years ago and had forgotten a good portion of what I learned, but what I remembered allowed me to look up some Japanese in the dictionary. When I got there, I was able to hold up conversations, but the dictionary didn't have about 90% of the words that I needed to translate in order to keep up a smooth conversation. Luckily for me, all the people that I conversed with had their dictionaries. After 4 days I just gave up on using this piece of junk. The buttons give a strong resistance, and the clicking of the keyboard is annoyingly loud. I consider myself a technical wizard and fast to adapt, but this interface was atrocious to use. Switching back and forth from J->E and E->J was a task in itself. Options were limited on trying to decrease the size of the font. When pressing the button to speak the translation, and if there were more than one resulting word, it would speak both of them with an awkward pause in between. And I repeat, about 90% of the words that I needed weren't available for translation on this device. There were other functions on this, but it's similar in functionality to that of a PDA from 10 years ago. Pretty useless. I've concluded that this was for people who are vacationing/sightseeing and just need to get around. After getting back from Japan I've bought 3 paper Japanese dictionaries (one J<->E & two Kanji), which costs less than this when prices are combined, but all are exponentially more useful. If you need an electronic dictionary to translate, spend the extra money and go for something that has more than 20,000 words. If you need a phrase book and common words, save some money... buy an actual book and learn the language.

This translator works so well it is unbelievable. I have used about 9 of the 14 offered without any problems. The battery lasts a long time, for me about 2 years and gives you a long time to replace before it goes dead. Many features, like speaking the word or phrase to you.

If you are young and have good dexterity, this is a wonderful item. If you are older, limited dexterity (think arthritis), this is not for you. Plus, if you buy it, (without knowing this serious drawback), YOU CAN'T RETURN IT! It's not Amazon, it's Amazon Marketplace. I learned the hard way to thoroughly read the fine print, don't just think it's Amazon (who, btw, are fantastic in their customer service and responsiveness). so, caveat emptor. This is why brick-and-mortar will always exist: you can't tell everything you need to know from descriptions and photos.

I purchased this product because I'm learning german, and I wanted a very handy and portable dictionary and translator. I use it mostly for italian-german translations. In this function the device show its limits. The extention of the german and italian dictionary is not wide, but there are the most common words. This is a limit but i think that's unavoidable in a multilingual transaltor. It can cover all the possibilties. Beside, even online dictionary like pons.de don't have all the german words I step into. Another downside is that in the german translation is not reported the gender of the names and the plural, and the paradigm of verbes. Those are information of paramount importance in german, given the width of possiblities (3 genders, many plural forms, irregualr verbs and exceptions). The english dictionary is though good and well supplied in words and definitions. If someone looks for for something quick and effevctive for a trip I suggest this item. It's easy to handle, easy to interact with, there is a useful preset of handy travel phrases, even with the pronuciation made by a human native voice, that's a plus. The other add ons like converters and memo are handy too. The search for words is quite quick, because it starts while typing and it's possible to navigate the possibilies with the arrows. The qwerty keydboard is good. I didn't use the arabic, japanese, russian and turkish charachter, so i don't know how this works or if it's easy, and I can't say anything about those dictionary. I didn't found the issues other people complained about. That doesn't mean that those aren't, I just didn't noticed. I can't say anything about the customer service, because i can't access to it from Italy. I can summarize that this item has satisfied me, even if it doesn't fit 100% my needs (but so far i didn't foun any italian-german transaltor on the market). It definetly was worth the risk of a purchase without guarantee form producer and high possible costs of refusal.

This is a versatile little translater. It permits a standing solution to a long-standing problem. It's a bit on the expensive side, but it does so much. Thank you Franklin!

Inutile, non è un traduttore ma solo un vocbolario e limitato

très peu efficace , pas de phrases type, traduction longue a chercher le mots ... déçu par cette article . je suis sur google traducteur gratuit et très efficace, traduit simultanément, phonetique , traduction possible vocale , le top ...

A large part of learning a new language is in learning to understand how to pronounce the words you read in that language. I am a learner of Chinese Mandarin and as such I need to be able to read Pinyin (a romanized translation of the Chinese characters.) This piece of technology is essentially like a portable "Google Translate", so when I want to learn a word or a phrase, I look it up on the Translator and push a button for it to speak it in Chinese. The Pinyin and the original Chinese characters are shown on screen along with the English. The language is spoken by a native speaker. I have read reviews complaining that the sound is tinny, which is true (in some but not all recordings) however, this is more of an aesthetic problem and does not inhibit your ability to understand the pronunciation. The machine itself is robust and has a nice weight, showing quality. I get the impression that this would survive being bashed about in a bag while traveling. This would suit people who are into language learning and students of all ages who are learning languages in schools or universities. To Summarise: - helps with pronunciation - sound is tinny, but not a real problem - robust, sleek design - small, very portable item - adjustable volume - can use headphones comfortably - native speakers, not robots - gives original characters as well as romanized language (in cases where this applies) - nice key pad - backlight - adjustable font size - 2 x AAA batteries included - easy to work - works well in combination with a dictionary - fun learning tool!

Sprachübersetzung sehr mangelhaft,die schriftliche Übersetzung ist ok,eingebene Sätze werden nur schriflich aber korrektGerät übersetzt,für Konversationshilfe nicht geeignet. Translator ist handlich zum Mitnehmen auf Reisen.

funciona bien, buen tamaño aunque está enfocado especialmente al inglés, para otros idiomas como el francés faltan cosas, supongo que se podrán incorporar pero no he investigado en ese sentido.