You can ask the Google Assistant to translate your conversation with someone who doesn’t speak your language.
The languages you can use to start using interpreter mode depend on your device. After you’ve started interpreter mode, you can ask the Google Assistant to translate between more languages.
Devices you can use
- All Google Home speakers
- Some speakers with Google Assistant built-in
- All Smart Displays
- Smart Clocks
- Mobile phones and tablets
Languages you can translate between
Interpreter mode languages: Phones & tabletsYou can ask the Google Assistant to translate into any of the following languages:
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Bulgarian
- Burmese
- Cambodian (also called Khmer)
- Catalan
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- English
- Estonian
- Filipino (Tagalog)
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Greek
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Javanese
- Kannada
- Korean
- Latvian
- Malayalam
- Marathi
- Nepali
- Mandarin
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Serbian
- Sinhala
- Slovak
- Spanish
- Sudanese
- Swedish
- Tamil
- Telugu
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Urdu
- Vietnamese
You can ask the Google Assistant to translate into any of the following languages:
- Arabic
- Bulgarian
- Catalan
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- English
- Filipino (Tagalog)
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Greek
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Mandarin
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Serbian
- Slovak
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Vietnamese
Translate a conversation
- Say "Hey Google..."
- Say a command, like:
- "...Be my Italian interpreter"
- "...Interpret from Polish to Dutch"
- "...Chinese interpreter"
- "...Turn on interpreter mode"
- If you haven’t identified languages, choose which languages you want to use.
- When you hear the tone, start speaking in either language. You don’t have to alternate between languages for interpreter mode to work.
On a Smart Display, you’ll both see and hear the translated conversation.
To stop using interpreter mode, say a command like:
- "Stop"
- "Quit"
- "Exit"
On a Smart Display, you can also swipe from left to right to stop interpreter mode.
Fix problems with interpreter mode
Can’t start interpreter modeStep 1: Check which command you’re using
Make sure you use one of the commands listed above to start interpreter mode.
These commands won’t start interpreter mode:
- Speak [language].
- Can you speak [language]?
- Translate [language].
Step 2: Check your device
Interpreter mode won’t work with some speakers that aren’t made by Google. Check with your manufacturer to find out if interpreter mode works with your device.
Step 1: Wait for the tone
You’ll hear a tone after any spoken translation. If you speak before the tone, your device may not hear everything you say.
Step 2: Make sure the device can hear you
Stay close to your device and limit the number of other conversations near you.
Step 1: Speak clearly
Articulate the words and limit extra noise so your device can determine which language you’re speaking.
Step 2: Check your pronunciation
If you’re translating between two languages that share words, your device may not be able to tell which language you’re speaking.
For example, if you want to translate the word "bueno" from Spanish to English but speak with an English accent, your device might translate from English to Spanish instead. In that case, you’ll hear the Spanish word - "bueno" - rather than the expected English word, "good."
Try one of the stop commands listed above using English or the language you’re translating into.
If your device is translating your stop command instead of stopping, try a different command.