And the 3 Nominees for Best Free Online Translator Are...

And the 3 Nominees for Best Free Online Translator Are... And the 3 Nominees for Best Free Online Translator Are The crowd cheers.The band plays sappy music.The nominees are announced.Its the setup of any great award show.But while the following nominees all have their fans and admirers, there will be no awkward, forced smiles when the winner is announced.Thats because with these three amazing free online translators, everyone is a winner.Theyre chock-full of features, they offer great translations and theyre difficult to match in quality.They even have their own  translation apps so you can take their powerful capabilities with you wherever you go.Heres all you need to know about the best online translator apps that money cant buy. Why Is It Important to Use the Best Online Translators?For one thing, accuracy of translations can vary wildly. If youve learned anything from your translation exercises, its probably that there are multiple ways to translate any word or phrase, and some ways are much better (and more accurate) than others. Translations vary with online translators, too, but usual ly the higher-quality options have worked out more of the kinks to create better output than other translators.Plus, each online translator has different features, and some have more features than others. Some websites focus more on simple translations, while others have unique features that make them more like a hybrid of a conventional translator and a learning website. For language students, these additional features can offer a firmer grasp on the language, word meaning, pronunciation and more.Additionally, the best online translators can not only translate but help you learn. A good online translator can actually add to your vocabulary. If you use it correctly and often, your favorite free online translator might just help you  learn a language for free.How to Get the Most Out of a Free Online TranslatorTry some test phrases to see how accurate the translations are.Try translating phrases you already know between your native language and your target languageâ€"the more challeng ing the grammar and vocabulary, the better. Testing translators with phrases you already know can help give you an idea of how well the translator works with your specific target language.Try translating the text back and forth between languages to make sure the translations make sense.Translating back and forth between languages is a helpful way to ensure the translation means what you want it to mean. For instance, if youve translated a phrase into your target language, try plugging that phrase back into the translator to get a clearer idea of what it actually means in English. Sometimes, this can help you catch translation or word choice errors.Play around with all of the translators features.Translators have a lot of different features, but many users only use them to translate text they encounter. Because of this, they miss out on some of the best, most useful features available. For instance, if you always just want text translated, you might not even notice that your favorite translator offers terrific audio of words and phrases in your target language that you can use to nail down your pronunciation.Rather than only using an online translator when you need to translate some text or a website, take a few moments to play around with all of its features. You might find that your favorite is one you were completely unaware of.Use your translator frequently.Whenever you realize you dont know a word, use your favorite translator to look it up. Since these top online translators are handy (you can even download their apps), its easy to use a translator whenever you have a spare moment. For instance, when youre stuck in line at the grocery store, look at the products in your cart and look up any of the foods you cant name in your target language. If you use the translator regularly, your vocabulary will likely grow exponentially with very little effort.Find real-world examples of words you look up on FluentU.Some translators provide example sentences, which is great for learning in context. But its a good idea to take things a step further and ensure that youre able to recognize and understand a word outside of the translator.One easy way to do this is to put the words youre learning into a customized multimedia flashcard set on FluentU. FluentU makes personalized language lessons from real-world videosâ€"like movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talksâ€"and it will find clips from videos that use the words you type in!Use your translator to check your work.  Wrote something in your target language? Get out your favorite translator to check it. You can translate it back to English to be sure the message is what you intended.And the 3 Nominees for Best Free Online Translator AreGoogle TranslateGoogle Translate is a big name in the field of online translation, and with good reason. It offers a huge array of features and translates between around 100 languages.FeaturesAudio pronunciation for common languagesAudio pronunciations are available for a nice array of common languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Plus, the first time you play the audio, it will play it at a conversational rate. Play it a second time and the rate will be slowed down to help you master tricky pronunciations.Huge array of languagesRemember how we said Google Translate can translate between around 100 languages? Well, that includes the worlds most common languages and even some languages you might not have heard of yet, like Frisian and Sesotho. Thats a lot of language power all in one place!Can detect languageYou dont even have to input the name of the language you want translated. Just enter the text, website or document and Google Translate can figure out what language it is.Can translate text, website or documentYou can input your text directly, enter a webpage link or upload a document. Google Translate can handle any of these formats, making it a versatile tool.Allows you to handwrite textIf youre studying a language that uses a different alphabet, you might not have typing skills in that language yet, which can make things tricky if you want to translate. Luckily, Google Translate has a handwriting feature that allows you to draw in the characters to translate. To access this feature online, just set the text input box to your target language. Then, click the keyboard icon in the bottom left side of the input box to change the input settings.Offers keyboards to input other alphabetsWant another input option? Google Translate offers a visual keyboard you can open to type in words using your target alphabet. The layout even matches standard keyboard layouts, so this can be valuable practice if you want to learn to type in your target language down the road. To do this, just click the keyboard icon on the bottom left side of the text input box.Offers speech input for common languagesIf youre traveling, you might prefer not t o have to type in everything you want translated. Google Translate offers speech input for common languages, allowing you to quickly speak what you want translated. You might even record someone speaking in your target language to translate to English so that you fully grasp what theyre saying. To use speech input, select your target language and click the microphone in the bottom left side of the input box.Provides multiple possible translations along with rating of how common they areIf you input a word or common phrase, you wont just get one translation option, youll get several. The main text box will show the translation Google Translate feels is preferred. Below that, youll see some other options. The bar to the left of the phrase shows how common each option is.Provides definitions of inputted wordsWhen you input individual words, a definition of the word will appear below the input box. If you need to learn a word in your target language that you still dont understand in you r native language, this can come in handy.Can share, save or copy wordsYou can share through email, Twitter or Google+. You can copy to your clipboard and paste words/phrases wherever you like. You can even save words for easy access the next time you use Google Translate. Thats a lot of options that could come in handy for language learners!App availableThe Google Translate app offers many of the same features as the web version and is available for iOS and Android.Bing Microsoft TranslatorWhile Bing Microsoft Translator doesnt have as many features as Google Translate, it does have some great offerings and a legion of admiring fans. Some users feel that Bings translations may even be better for certain languages. Luckily, theres no shame in using multiple free online translators, so well let you be the judge of which online translator works best for you.FeaturesAudio pronunciation for common languagesBing Microsoft Translator can pronounce words and phrases in several common langu ages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.Nice array of languagesWith around 60 different languages offered, Bing Microsoft Translator has the most popular languages for language learners, along with some less expected offerings, like Klingon and Yucatec Maya.Can copy or share wordsBing Microsoft Translator allows you to copy words and then paste them wherever you like. You can also share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and via email through Bing Microsoft Translator.App availableWant similar features from the convenience of your favorite device? Check out the Microsoft Translator iOS and Android apps.ReversoHeres another convenient translator app to add to your toolbox. It doesnt translate for quite as many languages as the translators above, but has some special features that make it worth using for those learning the popular languages it does offer.FeaturesAudio pronunciationsReverso offers audio pronuncia tions for most of its languages.Translates for 13 common languagesReverso offers 13 popular languages: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian and Spanish.Offers multiple possible translationsFor most common words and phrases, Reverso will provide you with several possible translations. Variety is the spice of life!Provides example sentencesFor each possible translation Reverso provides, it also provides an example sentence. This is a language learners dream come true for learning how to use new vocabulary in context.Offers spelling and grammar check for inputted textIf youre unsure if the text youre translating from is in good shape, you can run it through Reversos spell/grammar check. This can help ensure mistakes in the initial text dont mess up the translated text.Can copy wordsYou can copy any translation for easy pasting into other programs.App availableReverso has an iOS and Android app.Try these three free onl ine translator apps, and the winner will be you!