Nyrius LT12 12 Language Global Digital Talking Translator Foreign Pocket-Sized Electronic Speaking Dictionary

I opened it right once it came in the mail, and played with it for like an hour! Its very nice. It comes with spare batteries, case to put it in, neck tie, and a ear piece. I am taking it on my trip to italy, I can't wait :) I hope to learn most of phrases before i go though. It says the phrases aloud in english or one of the 12 languages and then in your choice of language. It will get you around where you need to go with the basics if you are traveling. I am not sure how long the batteries last thats why i rated it 3 stars in that catigory, but so far so good. I like that you can save the phrases you want so you dont have to go searching for ones you think you'll use a lot again. Also includes an alarm and data file so you can store phone numbers. I wish it said more phrases.... but it has plenty, and some of the longer phrases are said a little fast so you have to listen to is acouple times. But over all very nice product, that'll teach you the basics. I would tell my friends to buy it if they were to travel.

My mom is going to China and I researched all mobile talking translators that I could find. We are very, very pleased with this unit. Great instructions, does what it says it will do, extremely full featured and the price is exceptional. The only negative thing is that the four batteries that came with it (it takes two 'watch' batteries) didn't last 2 hours. So, a trip to Walmart (2 batteries for $4.27) and we were back in business. I would suggest that if you were traveling, especially to a foreign country, that you take at least a couple of dozen batteries. Other than that, I highly recommend this unit!

They want me to write a revie for a 1 year warrenty, ok, I will do it.... This really isn't the time to write a thorough review because I don't go on my trip for another 3 weeks but so far it wasn't hard to figure out, it's nice and small enough to put in your pocket although I do wish it spoke in Ukraine since that's were I am going but I figure and hope Russian will do. I can't really form an honest opinion because I havn't tested it one any one yet to see how helpful it really is but I do asume it will come in handy. This is why I gave it a 3 star but if it does come in handy I'd rate it 4 because it is only pre-loaded with a buch of lines but how do you finish? Sure it says "My Name Is..." in another language but it doesn't say Jon in another language, you have to figure that out. Also it has "Can I Buy..." How do you say whatever your buying in their language? A shame I couldn't find one where you type any word out and it can speak it in the language you want it to, still this is a nice little device, I hope it helps me allot on my trip.

I visited France, Italy, and Spain. The areas of Italy I visited were Venice, Florence, Tuscany, and Rome. English is spoken very well in these areas so not necessary to use a translator. In Spain I visited Malaga, Rhonda, and Sevilla....there was a little bit of English and assistance would have been good. France, English is very little so it would have been extremely beneficial. However, as I discovered with this devise is that is states in in the language you are in, but what happens is that the people responding reply in their language so you have no idea what they are saying unless they use the device to reply which presents another problem all in itself. Pointing and drawing maps for directions was so much less frustrating. I still have the device so if there is a way that someone can tell me how to use it to be beneficial, that would be great!

Tronics prompted me to send a review, so I will. Some background: I travel internationally about once a year to different places. I usually bring an English-to-XX/XX-to-English dictionary with me when traveling, in case I cannot find an English speaker (which is usually not too hard to do, but getting them to admit to it is harder ;-). I find the dictionary approach very easy - you look up the word and show the other person the translation. My English-Chinese/Chinese-English dictionary seems to have approximately 6000 words each direction that I can look up by simply spelling it from either language. I looked on the web for electronic dictionaries. Unfortunately, none of the available devices seem to provide a simple language-to-language translation with look-up by spelling (except maybe for the common European languages). Since I also travel in Asia, and work for a Chinese company, that doesn't quite meet my needs. For languages with different alphabets that are rather dissimilar, such as English and Chinese, having a device support look-up by spelling for both languages becomes difficult. The hierarchical menu approach seems a way to support look-up in dissimilar languages. Now for the device itself. My Chinese-English dictionary weighs 10.25 oz (290g). My Nyrius, plus carrying case, lanyard, and 1 paper word list weighs a total 3.75 oz (110g). That may not seem like much difference, but a 10 oz book in your pants pocket is not small and unobtrusive, especially for a day of sight seeing. The Nyrius is small enough for a shirt pocket (or you can hang from the lanyard). If you are doing a multi-stop vacation, such as touring Europe, multiple dictionaries would add to your luggage weight, while the Nyrius would handle multiple languages in one small package. Usability: I have not yet traveled with it internationally, so I am not sure how well it will work for me in different situations. I cannot see using this to carry on a conversation; look-up seems way too slow. Maybe with lots of use, look-up becomes much faster. I find look-up of random words to be fairly difficult on the device, since you don't know which words are supported. I thank the company for providing small paper listings of the menus, since I can visually find which words are available and how to get to them much faster on paper than on the device. And since listings are provided in multiple languages, you can let the other person also use a look-up list to find words themselves. (They do not currently have 12 lists, though.) The lists are lightweight and easily fold up to carry in the carrying case. I find some navigation counter-intuitive. The words are numbered; if you press the "up" key, it shows you the next lower numbered word; if you press the down key, it shows you the next higher numbered word. I suppose it corresponds to looking at the words on the printed list - word #181 is higher on the printed page than word #182. I think the display is pretty primitive. The device is similar in size to a cellphone (actually a bit larger than many cellphones). The size of the screen is only two characters high, which is awful compared to cellphones. The screen is black-on-gray which limits its visibility compared to cellphones. The left-right scrolling is painfully slow compared to cellphones or computer screens. The word translator could be so much better in a decent cellphone handset or a PDA. I give this device four stars; it seems to do what it set out to do reasonably well, and at a low price. Based on info available from the web, it seems to do a good job compared to competitive products. I wish they had shot for loftier goals, though. I think this translator could be much more than it is. I wish I could find a translator with better features that I think current technology could easily support. Imagine this device having a USB port or an SD port, and you could buy support for a single language on a USB flash drive or an SD card. And then you could buy only the languages that you need, when you need them. And you could buy the current basic dictionaries, or advanced dictionaries as they become available. And you could buy new languages as they became available. Imagine having the translator on your cellphone or PDA rather than in a separate device, so you only need to carry one device. Imagine improved hierarchical searching with drop-down menus on better screens. Imagine being able to download the dictionaries of choice to your cellphone for use with a common cellphone application. Imagine support via your cellphone provider for a specific language payable one month at a time (the license continues until you explicitly discontinue it) - since I usually travel to one place once a year, for one to four weeks, that would make much more sense than having a 12-language translator that sits idle 11 months of the year. Imagine support for voice-driven look-up, similar to the voice command capability of some existing cellphones. Ah, what could have been. Still, I think this devices deserves its four stars for what it offers at the price.

I just got this translator for Christmas, and it's a hit and miss for me so far. The power has died about 9 times in 3 days, so I have changed the batteries (it came with 2 inside already, and an extra 2....neither of which worked?!?!?) I am going to get some 'real' batteries from the shop tomorrow & see what happens. When it did work, it was very cool, and I am very excited to get to use it. The phrases it comes with seem enough to get you through, but I think next time I will order one that I can make up my own phrases, so I can use it for more out of the box stuff (like camping!) The power cutting out really worries me though, as I am wondering if it will be available to use when I need it??!? So only 2 starts for that reason.

I recently purchased the talking translator and it's been great so far. I really like the compact size - it easily fits in a pocket and it isn't bulky to carry when traveling. I've also really enjoyed all the features such as the backlight which can be turned on or off and the headphone jack for when you want to listen to the translation without bugging everyone around you. I think my favorite feature is the category buttons such as Hotel, Restaurants, etc. which makes it easy to find the phrases you need.

This is really a great product for the price. I bought one for my grandaughter and then I had to buy one for myself. It works just as it is advertised and it is very simple to use. It sounds out the sentence in English and then it repeats it in whichever the 12 languages you choose. I highly recommend it. You could actually hold the machine in your hand and let it speak the sentences for you in the foreign language. A great item for those learning a foreign language or traveling out of the country.