What’s New with Translation Tools

Technology is always improving and it has been a few years since I took a deep dive into the latest translation tools. We have talked about Google and Microsoft Translate apps and they have been very impressive but I wanted to know what is newer and better. I reached out to my friend Gemini (not the American Gladiator) and he recommended I look into a product by Timekettle. I remember Leslie Fisher demoing Microsoft translate when it was new, down at the TCEA conference in Central Texas.  It was like the future had arrived.  As time would have it the future is here again and the future is Timekettle.  

Timekettle has been brewing up some new tech based around earbud translation tools. Thankfully this new cutting edge tech doesn’t demand an arm and a leg to translate words into your ears. Their most popular product is actually around two years old now and prices have dropped to less than $150. The M3 Translation earbuds work with a mobile application on a phone or tablet to translate spoken words into other languages in near real time. Having always been impressed with products named M3 I decided this must be worth a look.

Timekettle’s website describes their M3 earbuds as the ultimate 3 in 1 device (translation, music, and phone calls). These translation smart earbuds have the ability to function as common everyday dumb earbuds as well as being a translation master tool. Your students could use these earbuds for accommodations that require listening to text to speech or speech to text functions when working on assignments or for… TESTING! 

Notice in the image of the M3 device that the charging case for these wireless bluetooth earbuds splits into two separate pieces as opposed to the common form of having a hinged lid.  The case portions can be used as additional microphones to listen to the language being spoken by one party and spits it back out through its corresponding earbud in the new language to the listener.  

These can be used in conversation mode where two users each take a half of the kit.  The translation occurs once one party stops talking, similarly to the usual translation suspects however the earbud listening is what sets this apart.  You won’t need to be in a perfectly quiet environment so that you can both take turns listening to a speaker phone trying its best to announce your conversation to the world.  A busy and effective learning environment is rarely the quietest place around so that makes this feature a game changer.  Now if you want to be as fancy as a United Nations Delegate with your own personal real time translator speaking into your ear as they listen to someone bloviating at a microphone you can upgrade to the WT2 Edge for instant real time translation.  Be ready to fork out $350 a set for that privilege. 

The M3 can also operate in a lecture style called Listen Mode.  This is probably going to be the most popular use case for our students.  With the earbud case on their desk both microphones will work together to focus on the lesson coming from the teacher and broadcast its translation to the student through both earbuds simultaneously.  This is FAR more effective then a student trying to keep up with learning by reading captions on the bottom of a Google slide or through text translations on a more common application.  

The dollars to donuts the M3 is a great compromise in my opinion over the more advanced WT2 Edge device.   If you have pockets deep enough to take it to the edge then it would only be a more effective option.   In education, remember that affordability significantly increases the likelihood of product approval.  From my research there appears to be no cost for the accompanying mobile app. There is also no monthly subscription fee, I’m going to have to see who I can get to fund a pair of these for me to demo around the district and hopefully prove their worth.  

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