Customer Reviews

Franklin TG-490 Speaking Translator

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Hello Readers,

If you are basically a trilingual American student who is interested in improving your language skills primarily just in Korean, Spanish, and English, then this device will definitely satisfy you (99% of the time.) However, it is true that the other Asian languages, especially Japanese, are somewhat rather difficult to use on this device. But, the Korean language definitely operates just like any of the other Western languages that use the westernized Roman Alphabet (such as English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese, which are all included on this device.) The problem with Chinese on this device is that you cannot input Chinese letters via the keyboard, because there are no Chinese letters on the keyboard to begin with! What you will need to do in order to input Chinese is simply to use the Westernized alphabet (your A-B-C's) to try to PHONETICALLY write out Chinese letters, and then match up your attempt with a list of suggestions, written in Mandarin. (As I earnestly tinkered with this device for the past two months, this particular observation that I made of Chinese seems to be true also for Japanese, except that Japanese is even worse, because as I would phonetically input Westernized letters, these letters would suddenly disappear simultaneously AS YOU TYPE (very confusing!) and then generate amorphously incomprehensible Japanese letters in the place where you had just typed westernized letters.) According to one of the previous reviews by a Chinese-American who supposedly claims to be fluent in Chinese, he reaffirms that this device's input method for Chinese will be a poor language learning experience. But, according to my Korean-American background (and my background of having attended U.S. public schools all my life, where I personally studied Spanish for four years when I was in high school) I definitely endorse this device, especially for the sake of improving your trilingual abilities in Korean, Spanish, and English.

In conclusion, I argue that the value of this device will incontrovertibly depend on what you PERSONALLY need. If you are English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or perhaps even Dutch, Polish, or Russian, and you are interested in a sufficiently simple device to communicate in Korean, then this device is the best one that I have ever seen yet in my life, and my life is of a committed Korean-American background. (The same goes for all you fellow Koreans out there seeking a vice versa language translator device, such as this one, in order to speak all of those aforementioned Westernized languages, beginning directly from Korean itself.)

However, the Chinese language on this device is not completely a failure, either. For veteran speakers of the Korean language (such as my own first-generation parents), they agree that knowing approximately 2,000 key vocabulary words of "Hanja" (Chinese etymological root words observed in the Korean language) is helpful to thoroughly use Korean on a daily life-long basis. So, based on my two-month experience using this handy device, I can confidently say it also very effectively stimulates and improves my fledgling understanding of the Chinese language. So, for all you fellow Korean people out there, you can relish in another benefit that this device will offer you: an engagingly fun and sufficiently excellent introduction to Chinese to enhance your lifelong pursuit to learn the language of your parents so you can gradually overcome the problems of misunderstanding them.

Furthermore, this device offers another powerful feature that would make any person, of any background, who is interested in translating between languages, consider buying this device: the Quiz application. The quizzes really are quite engaging and >90% of the words that are asked are frequently applicable in daily life, particularly in my Korean life with my parents, in which I can enrich my daily conversations with them simply by reviewing new words with them and/or immediately making conversational use of those new words while, for example, discussing current events in the news with them. (I hope that anybody with European parents or Korean parents or parents from any other bilingual background could somewhat relate to what I am talking about.) And, you don't have to worry about inputting any words either, if you are trying to do Chinese or Japanese; all you have to do is allow the machine to generate the quiz words for you, and then you can study them. But, overall, I'm certain I cannot do complete justice in advertising and trying to convey the idea of how great this device's application really is, simply with all my words here in this review; you have to see it to believe it, in order to understand how great this device really is and how worthwhile this device will be in influencing your life.

A few final words of a practical concern with the device itself:

The keyboard is a standard keyboard just like the one you are using at your computer right now. On it, you can input three types of alphabets: the Westernized Roman Alphabet, the Russian Cyrillic Alphabet, and the Korean Hangul Alphabet.

The keyboard slides out from underneath, much like some mobile phones I have recently seen. It is of high quality; avoid being misguided by some the previous reviews I have read, which wrongly condemn this device as being flimsy for having a sliding keyboard. From my experience, if you have gentle, machine-savvy hands that are good at taking good care of mobile phones, then you will experience the same quality of durability from this handy little device. (I suspiciously believe that those other people who reportedly experienced trouble with the sliding keyboard probably spilled food and/or oils onto the device, or probably rudely handled the machine by unintelligibly forcing the sliding mechanism off of its grooves...)

The night-light is sufficient. Even when two of my other colleagues and I were all leaning over this device outside in the darkening night to translate some English words into Chinese during an evening-outdoor-language-seminar (called "Chinese Corner on the Lawn") on the college campus grounds of the University of Virginia, we were all still able to read this device's screen perfectly.

The volume of the human-voice speaker can be adjusted efficiently enough, and is excellently audible. Furthermore, according to my parents, the Korean that is spoken by the device is clearly understandable and without any noticeable accent. According to one collegiate Professor of Chinese language here at UVA, the Chinese that is spoken by the device, is of "A- quality" regarding the quality of Chinese spoken from this device, and that professor also expressed the idea that this device is great for beginner students in introductory language classes, in general, to get acceptably good experience quickly and efficiently.

The dimensions of this device is: .75 x 4.0 x 2.75. Specifically:
Thickness (Height) = 0.75 inches
Length (Base) = 4.0 inches
Width = 2.75 inches
Therefore, this handy product is smaller than your everyday 3 x 5 index card, and is about the same thickness as a standard TI-83 calculator used in all American high schools these days.

Finally, battery life is great... I can often go for one week at a time, while intensively using it, before a recharge even feels necessary. The power meter is indicated in the main menu of the device, and is revealed in percentages. Usually, when the device starts from 100%, and a person intensively uses it for seven days without recharging, it may still have as much as 15% power still within. But, this device does NOT have a "universal" charger that is interchangeable with just ANY mobile phone charger, as one previous reviewer stated (it depends on what mobile phone you have these days... Specifically the device has a standard accessory USB port built into it, and so whatever charger you use, it must have a USB-style plug built into it.)

Also, there is a phrase book application available on this device, which is quite beneficial for generating some grammatically correct sentences rather than choppy word-for-word sentences. The selection of phrases is broad enough to get by in a foreign country that speaks any of the languages that are offered by this gadget with a very high probability.

Despite all that I have said in this review, you have to see it to believe how great it is. If you still aren't convinced, visit Franklin's website (at www.franklin.com) first to see a 3D tour of this device. (At the time of my purchase of this great product, none of Franklin's competitors, for this same product, demonstrated the same amount of useful preview information.)

Now, the final decision is ultimately yours whether or not to purchase this product. Nevertheless, in this age of limited precious time to shop for similar products, I have faith the best choice for most people, in this modern world, is this device.

I first learned about this new product from a review in NY Times few weeks ago. The review indicates although it's a flawed product, it worked pretty well for what it's supposed to do. I took the plunge when Amazon had this on sale for a bit over $170. My main usage for it is to learn Russian and would like to pick up some short phrases in French/Spainish as well for overseas traveling. I also speak Chinese so was curious as to the Asian language capabilities. Quite disappointed when I got it and after testing it for a week or so decided to return it to Amazon.

Pros:
- 12 languages and a decent amount of phrases. It's a talking translator and although the sound is a bit muffled, it still helps.
- Rechargeable battery and charges through mini-USB cables which I carry a couple for PDA/cell phones, so a huge plus
- Battery life seems to be decent
- Large screen, and with backlight on, quite readable.
- Russian alphabet printed on the keyboard so very easy to input
- Some other utilities like World clock, calculator, etc. No use to me since every gadget has these but in a pinch, I guess you can use those.

Cons:
- Here's a big one, limited vocabulary. The number might sound quite impressive, but when you actually use it, you realize how small the database is. When I type in some basic Russian words, I can't find the translation. Going from English to Russian yielded slightly better results but I had to settle for listening for a single word in a long sentence when the word is only available in a phrase. I still can't find about 20% of the Russian words in the first few lessons and that's quite frustrating! Not useful if you are learning a language and want pronunciation of every word in the dictionary
- At least for Chinese, no native input method, so you can only go by the sound, which is quite useless as there are many words with the same phonetic sound in Chinese. So Chinese-English is almost non-usable. I suspect it's the same for Japanese and Korean but needs verification.
- You can't type phrases, only single word, and then hope the word search can pull up phrases you are looking for. Limited success with it.
- Sound is a bit muffled as mentioned above.
- Screen is a bit dim without the backlight. This is not a biggie for me but might bother some people with poor eye-sight
- Awkward design in language switching. I found it a common function to swap base/target languages. Say I'm looking for the pronunciation of a Russian word. If I'm in the Russian-English mode, I type the Russian word, realize it's not available, so I want to switch to English-Russian mode and type the English word. Instead of having a quick "Swap" button, you will have to pull down a menu for the base language, switch, and then pull down another similar menu for the target language and switch. Also, since it's not a touch screen or mouse-controled device, you have to literally pressing the up/down button 8-9 times before you can go from English to Russian and vice versa. (even further for any of the Asian languages) Definitely a usability flaw.
- No case included, and thus no protection for the screen, as there's no build-in cover for it. I had to use a non-fitting pouch to hold it and that's just asking for trouble. So easy to crack the screen.
- The slide-out keyboard is a good idea, but the actual construction isn't very solid. Sometimes when I slide it out, the two sides of the keyboard are not even and I suspect it could be a longer term headache when it refuse to close properly.

Based on the above analysis, I can only give it a 1 or 2 star. The search continues...

I bought this device because I am starting to travel internationally. I received the product a few days ago. I am not 100% happy with it. To start, the screen is very hard to read. The contrast setting really does not do anything to help read the screen. Have to strain my eyes and keep tilting the unit to avoid reflection to read. The backlight is useless too!! Very disappointing!!!

There is no capability to enter more than one word at a time. It does have a selection of phrases based on category that can be selected.

It does function fine as a translator, just not too easy to read, or move back and forth through options.

I would give this a 2.5 out of 5.0. I feel that Franklin could have done much better with this product. Why make a translator device that is very difficult to read?

If I was able to return it, I would. Definitely not worth the retail price of $230. Going to check out the Voyager III.

I recently purchased & returned other speaking translators (voice phrase books / talking dictionaries) from other companies (other brands). This Franklin model is by far the best: clear, natural, speaking voice, vs. a computer-generated "robot voice", with others. My only criticism is that the speaking voice is too fast. At least it can be repeated as often as necessary.

Its not bad but its heavy. lots of words and phrases. IT DOESNT TRANSLATE ANYTHING YOU TYPE IN. JUST INDIVIDUAL WORDS and you may have trouble with conjugated verbs. I found its competitor a bit clearer in sound prounounciation. The franklin is also a bit clumsy. The slide in and out keyboard is a bit off balance to use when its out.

Its permanent rechargable battery (i couldnt find how to remove it) may be good, but if it loses charge (they should last a very long time), you cant replace it with regular AAA bateries and you may not be in a country that has 120V current. And if you have to carry a converter, whats the point. I liked the voyager better. Its lighter, at least as easy to use, a bit quicker and speaks more clearly. Of course, all I did was check out the italian.

The product didn't live up to what I expected from the marketing materials. It serves as a list of common phrases (difficult to navigate to) or a dictionary of single words. As a practical matter it doesn't function as a "translator" at all; you can't type in a phrase and get an equivalent phrase in the target language. If you need a common phrase for immediate use -- for example "Take me to the Hotel Hilton" for a cab driver, you would have to navigate to the most similar phrase in the "travel" list (there isn't a phrase for this sentence, actually). What is needed is something like the Macintosh "translate" widget, that permits you to type short phrases or sentences and provides reasonably understandable equivalents in the target language. I returned the product.

Just traveled to china and japan and used the TG-490 from Franklin, the speaking translator was certainly reliable at all times & helpful but the time it takes to write a phrase is kind of cumbersome, the amount of words & phrases built in falls short for the business traveler needs but was useful when dealing with taxi drivers, store clerks and the like. Good value for the money and best in it's class but is no substitute for a good travel guide and a dictionary. Having one of this with you gives an extra sense of security when traveling abroad...

This little translator is just what I was looking for for my trip to Italy. It's compact, light, and full of features. Having an alarm clock is expected, but still nice. The ability to play mp3s is a nice bonus as well. The translation was solid, and it was very easy to use even for older people who had never seen a device like this. The only reason I don't give it a full five stars is because it didn't have a full word to word translation. Some abstract words and concepts were present only within a sentence. Overall, though, excellent bargain.

Perhaps I received a dud, but the backlight stopped working literally after about 8 uses, making the poorly contrasted screen nearly impossible to see unless you're directly under a lamp or in a very brightly lit area.

Also, while it works just fine as a "word-to-word" translator, it's too hard and cumbersome to look up sentenses and phrases quickly, and you can't enter your own.

The speaking voice is however, better than other translators that I've seen, but they do tend to speak the phrases (when you find them) too quickly so they sound blended together. The purpose of one of these things is so we can LEARN a new language, so they should speak more slowly, not as quickly as a native speaker of that language can speak. duh. The Spanish voice and Chinese voices are the clearest. The Japanese and Russian voices sound muffled and are hard to make out.

If this were under $100 I'd say it's fine for what it is. With an average retail price of $200 however, it's got too many flaws to recommend it.

Overall is nice compact translator however the screen is very hard to read. They should have made the font display much larger.