Google Translate gets advanced features powered by Gemini
By ForGeeks
Google is updating its Translate service, adding new features based on the Gemini model, including a live translation mode via headphones.
Google Translate now uses the «enhanced capabilities of Gemini» to more accurately and naturally translate phrases with nuanced —idioms, vernacular expressions and slang. For example, the expression «stealing my thunder» will no longer be translated verbatim. Instead, the service will find the natural equivalent based on the context.
These improvements start rolling out today in the Translate apps for Android and iOS, as well as on the website and Google Search. At launch, they’ll appear in the US and India for translations between English and about 20 languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and German.
Translate will be available in the US and India for translations between English and about 20 languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and German.
The Google Translate app has also gained the ability to play real-time translation directly into headphones. You can simply point your smartphone at the person who’s speaking and hear them speak in your own language.
With Gemini 2.5 Flash Native Audio, the service preserves the speaker’s tone of voice, accents and intonation, making translation more natural and helping you better distinguish who said what.
This mode comes in handy when communicating with foreigners, listening to lectures and speeches abroad, or watching content in a foreign language. To use it, you plug in your headphones, open Translate, tap «Live translate» at the bottom of the screen, select a language (or leave «Detect automatically») and start the mode. Additionally, full-screen speech transcription will be available.
The feature is already available in beta mode in the U.S., Mexico and India on Android. It works with any headphone and supports more than 70 languages. Google continues to improve the model and translation quality. The feature will be coming to the iOS version and other countries in 2026.
The language learning tools introduced in August have also been updated. Users will now get more detailed feedback when practicing pronunciation, and to incentivize regular practice, Google is introducing «day series» — counting the days a user practices without interruption.
And to motivate regular practice, Google is introducing «day series» — counting the days a user practices without interruption.
These features will now also be available in Germany, India, Sweden and Taiwan as part of an expansion to 20 more countries.
Supported destinations:English → German and PortugueseBengali, Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, German, Hindi, Italian, Romanian and Swedish → English
