I'm currently learning Japanese — mostly because I'm a massive nerd and I want to learn how to read light novels without the need to wait for English translations. But Apple wants to prove I don't need to learn the language to chat with people abroad.
According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Apple is planning to bring live translation features to AirPods models later this year.
Catching up to Google
Google's Pixel buds have had this feature for a while. The idea is that you don't have to grab your phone from your pocket when you need to translate a conversation.
You just touch the buds, they listen to your conversation partner, and then tell you what they said. Of course, for a full, 2-way conversation, your partner would also need a pair of buds with the same feature — so it's best suited for using in restaurants and shops.
Gurman tells us that "the capability will be offered as part of an AirPods software upgrade due later this year," so we'll get a better idea of how it will work AirPods then.
There's no mention of what models of AirPods the feature will be coming too, although I imagine it's going to be the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4, and the AirPods Max — the current best AirPods you can buy.
I don't think it'll stop me from learning Japanese, however — I'm not sure making friends abroad would be all that much fun when you're fumbling with your AirPods
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