Google’s AR translation glasses are still just vaporware – The Verge

At the end of its I/O presentation on Wednesday, Google pulled out a one more thing-type surprise. In a short video, Google showed off a pair of augmented reality glasses that have one purpose displaying audible language translations right in front of your eyeballs. In the video, Google product manager Max Spear called the capability of this prototype subtitles for the world, and we see family members communicating for the first time.

Now hold on just a second. Like many people, weve used Google Translate before and largely think of it as a very impressive tool that happens to make a lot of embarrassing misfires. While we might trust it to get us directions to the bus, thats nowhere near the same thing as trusting it to correctly interpret and relay our parents childhood stories. And hasnt Google said its finally breaking down the language barrier before?

In 2017, Google marketed real-time translation as a feature of its original Pixel Buds. Our former colleague Sean OKane described the experience as a laudable idea with a lamentable execution and reported that some of the people he tried it with said it sounded like he was a five-year-old. Thats not quite what Google showed off in its video.

Also, we dont want to brush past the fact that Googles promising that this translation will happen inside a pair of AR glasses. Not to hit at a sore spot, but the reality of augmented reality hasnt really even caught up to Googles concept video from a decade ago. You know, the one that acted as a predecessor to the much-maligned and embarrassing-to-wear Google Glass?

To be fair, Googles AR translation glasses seem much more focused than what Glass was trying to accomplish. From what Google showed, theyre meant to do one thing display translated text not act as an ambient computing experience that could replace a smartphone. But even then, making AR glasses isnt easy. Even a moderate amount of ambient light can make viewing text on see-through screens very difficult. Its challenging enough to read subtitles on a TV with some glare from the sun through a window; now imagine that experience but strapped to your face (and with the added pressure of engaging in a conversation with someone that you cant understand on your own).

But hey, technology moves quickly Google may be able to overcome a hurdle that has stymied its competitors. That wouldnt change the fact that Google Translate is not a magic bullet for cross-language conversation. If youve ever tried having an actual conversation through a translation app, then you probably know that you must speak slowly. And methodically. And clearly. Unless you want to risk a garbled translation. One slip of the tongue, and you might just be done.

People dont converse in a vacuum or like machines do. Just like we code-switch when speaking to voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, or the Google Assistant, we know we have to use much simpler sentences when were dealing with machine translation. And even when we do speak correctly, the translation can still come out awkward and misconstrued. Some of our Verge colleagues fluent in Korean pointed out that Googles own pre-roll countdown for I/O displayed an honorific version of Welcome in Korean that nobody actually uses.

That mildly embarrassing flub pales in comparison to the fact that, according to tweets from Rami Ismail and Sam Ettinger, Google showed over half a dozen backwards, broken, or otherwise incorrect scripts on a slide during its Translate presentation. (Android Police notes that a Google employee has acknowledged the mistake, and that its been corrected in the YouTube version of the keynote.) To be clear, its not that we expect perfection but Googles trying to tell us that its close to cracking real-time translation, and those kinds of mistakes make that seem incredibly unlikely.

Google is trying to solve an immensely complicated problem. Translating words is easy; figuring out grammar is difficult but possible. But language and communication are far more complex than just those two things. As a relatively simple example, Antonios mother speaks three languages (Italian, Spanish, and English). Shell sometimes borrow words from language to language mid-sentence including her regional Italian dialect (which is like a fourth language). That type of thing is relatively easy for a human to parse, but could Googles prototype glasses deal with it? Never mind the messier parts of conversation like unclear references, incomplete thoughts, or innuendo.

Its not that Googles goal isnt admirable. We absolutely want to live in a world where everyone gets to experience what the research participants in the video do, staring with wide-eyed wonderment as they see their loved ones words appear before them. Breaking down language barriers and understanding each other in ways we couldnt before is something the world needs way more of; its just that theres a long way to go before we reach that future. Machine translation is here and has been for a long time. But despite the plethora of languages it can handle, it doesnt speak human yet.

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Google's AR translation glasses are still just vaporware - The Verge