Language barriers, there's an app for that.

I just came back from Barcelona. As I don't speak Spanish, I had a hard time communicating with Spanish people, as their English is not that good. After a couple of these situations I remembered that there is an app for that. Well, not one, but many... hundreds even, almost for any language. Language translators, dictionaries, text to speech, etc. are just some phrases one can search for these kind of apps on the web, the iStore and Google Play (formerly known as Android Market). Anyone with a smart phone can download these apps to their device and start using them in seconds. It is not the most elegant solution, nor the fastest, but it can get you out of some tough situations which are based on language differences. Text-to-speech translators are especially useful if you have no clue how to pronounce the words... just push that button and let your device do the talking. Some applications work both ways. For example, if you present a question to the other person, he can answer it in his own language right into your device's microphone. The the application on your device will then process the answer, translate it and read it out loud back to you (which can be especially useful for blind people, for example). 

These sort of applications are bringing different cultures closer together. They are, by no means, a substitute for knowing a language, but can be useful for tourists across the globe. They can get you out of some tough situations. We are basically carrying most of the world's dictionaries and languages in our pockets these days, thanks to mobile technology and the web. 

Google has begun testing their latest invention, augmented reality glasses, or Project Glass as they call it. Among many of it's features, imagine walking the streets of a foreign country and letting the glasses translate the signs, menus, and other signalisation which a foreigner might have trouble understanding. That is the future and some day we will all walk around with augmented reality devices which will do the translating for us. Pretty cool.