Customer Reviews

Franklin TG-450 12 Language Translator

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Unfortunately, you can't find even some easy words though you can find some advanced words sometimes.It's interesting. I entered 10 normal words and unfortunately it couldn't find all of them but half of it.The possibility to find the word is around 50%.So, it's not so useful for a researcher.You have to look up half of the words again sometimes.
But, for travel purposes and some daily phrases it's ok.and 12 language feature is great. I wish this product contained more words.

We have a girl from Russia staying with us this summer and this thing has been invaluable! I really am surprised that some others have given it a bad review. I'd say 95% of the words that we have looked up have been found. It is a great little tool that is very easy to use. Anyone considering buying a translator should seriously consider this. It is a great buy!

On the face of it, a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, this device is utterly useless as a translator from a language which generally does not classify nouns by gender (e.g. English) to one that does (e.g. French).

The gender is of course, part of the noun. The TG-450 gives only a partial translation ie no gender. The implications should be obvious to any student of language.

I find it amazing that a supposedly reputable company like Franklin should market a product with such a glaring deficiency.

For non-English speakers it might be slightly more useful, but not much. For example, many French nouns are dual gender. Maybe the TG-450 can differentiate between `le cave' - meaning `idiot' and `la cave' - meaning `basement'. I didn't keep my long enough to find out. The fact is, it is not a translator but an overpriced and useless gimmick. Buy a pocket dictionary.

This helps me browse web pages in different languages. Of course not very convenient to translate word by word, but with important fucntion like "search", "type your name", "enter", things like that, this is great. And if you're a beginner or intermediate person learning one of the 12 languages, you'll get a lot out of it. There will always be people not liking some features, they're probably advanced students of the languages.

We took the Franklin TG-450 European Language Translator on our recent vacation in The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. In the first two countries it worked as promised. In most instances I was able to get a rough translation of the word or phrase I was seeking. The currency and metric convertors also came in handy. However, near the end of our travels in Poland, the screen went blank. For $8 I replaced the batteries (probably needlessly) and got the translator briefly to work again by resetting it. This also requires entering some base information, a process which takes a couple of minutes. After a few more minutes, it stopped working again. I repeated this process several times and then gave up. The translator is warrantied and I have requested a replacement. We will see if this one holds up any better.

I used this during a two week excursion to Italy and Germany. While it is not a substitute for having some knowlege of the languages (luckily we had someone for both), it had about 50% of the words I searched for in it. Phrases are not very helpful.

I have been using my translator since it arrived to look up words and phrases for an upcoming trip to Europe. It's wonderful. It not only gives words, but many, many helpful phrases, related questions, etc.

I recently received a catalogue from a high priced store which offered a similar one with only 10 languages and cost $199.00. Amazon's price....$29.99....AND I got free shipping!!! I just loved the whole experience.

Hard to use. Does not show gender in French!!! Has outdated features and lacks customization in several areas where it is needed. Feels and looks like something that has been re-cycled from a previous translator.
I need it for the odd word in Italian - if there were any other choice I would not use it. If it were more expensive I would send it back.

Took it with me to Italy. Useless! Langenscheidt's small dictionary does a much better job at 1/3 the price!!

The Franklin TG-450 Translator is difficult to use and would be impractical in situations travelers get into. There is no way to get the proper translation for common questions - e.g. where is the railroad station? The individual foreign words are spelled out but the pronunciation is not given.
I tried it for a couple of days before our trip and eventually sent it back and bought two Larousse Mini-dictionaries which worked out well for us.

Not great, but, it came in handy during our 3+ weeks in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.

Although it claims 400,000 words and phrases, it felt like many fewer than that. Even if one assumes that the 400,000 words and phrases are the total for all languages, it felt like less than 30,000+ words and phrases/language. We found that there were many common words and phrases which weren't found in the dictionary. The limited dictonary and phrases were a disappointment, but, not having to carry 4 dictionaries partially made up for that lack.

The fact that the results aren't displayed phonetically made for several puzzled looks as we mispronounced the results of the search.

A more expensive solution might have proven a better choice, but, for the money, this was a good cheap compromise.