How I spent a day in Shenzhen without speaking Mandarin, thanks to these translation devices

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SCMP reporter Alkira Reinfrank tests two instant translators - the ili Translator and the Transay - in Shenzhen. Can she get by without speaking a word of Mandarin in the Chinese city?

[@princess_reaper]

"Opportunity Santa Claus needs a park" LOL

[@judahosborne8868]

That poor taxi dude looked like he was about to bust a vein

[@varshakaul9587]

@@judahosborne8868 she didnt even have a proper address. at least he could have put in his gps.. smh

[@johnlocke3819]

Where is the black santa claus?? lol

[@redsox7897]

I don't understand why the software maker did not utilize the mobile phone as a hardware device instead of making another standalone devices. They are seemingly redundant.

[@tracywehringer5270]

*I like the design of the **Bestt.Digital** translator , and charging case. It is little bit heavy. The application is easy to use, but there are things to be improved. For example, I knew the earbud are connected to the phone, but I didn’t know I need to reconfirm it again, so I would be able to use “Speaker mode” . I took sometime to find it though.*

[@AISPs]

Center Park --- Santa Park lol

[@kempkaching8773]

Alysterwolf ahahahahaha! -bad joke-

[@wackywong]

Hilarious, although I do find translators like Google terrible for East-Asian languages.

[@alexshi8583]

its because the languages are far too different from english lol. mandarin requires the use of many homophones and idioms to effectively communicate. there is like 5 different ways to say sorry in mandarin and each one is used best in a certain senario

[@user-oh6wb5rj2q]

Alex Shi five？？which? Just say 对不起（對不起) the basic word to say sorry. Which five can u state out? Im Chinese

[@MrAbstractj]

Az XZ 抱歉 being one

[@liongkienfai104]

@@user-oh6wb5rj2q 不好意思 is another, plus what you and Jerry Y said and that's already three different ways

[@nicoletan3792]

The Santa Clause part though But at least they get the idea of what she's trying to say

[@adamklam1]

so.... pretty bad translators... but still better than nothing, i guess?

[@Freedom34176]

It's not the best way to communicate but it's better than nothing so yeah.

[@cooliipie]

They obviously weren't using Google translate. And it's her accent it can't understand. Only an idiot would speak into it instead of type

[@kempkaching8773]

no it’s just how the language speaks. Im half chinese btw -_-

[@trufflegallow1978]

yeah

[@ph7ss564]

Better than nothing

[@corgimations]

"Opportunity Santa Claus who needs a park." XD

[@edgarenevldsen6702]

that taxi driver looks fed up 😂

[@haritikm]

This was cool. I'm amazed why this doesn't have like millions of views.

[@abhishek.chakraborty]

Two-way translation is the real key to breaking the linguistic barrier... with one-way, one is still effectively handicapped

[@weldon29]

Good for tourist. Pretty hilarious when it fails.

[@23gumoreira]

😅😅😅

[@Variouscartoontopic]

Who will learn your Mandarin 😄

[@billparrish6113]

0:29. Lived in Shenzhen for 8 years. In that mall behind her, you can buy the best copy watches in the world for around $50 each. It's right at the Lo Hu border crossing.

[@brynmckair4566]

I was reading an article about this device around 12 years ago in a children science magazine. It is amazing to see the device has been a reality.

[@xihangyang]

you can buy it on alibaba.

[@laszlogabor1969]

xihang yang Whats that?

[@Houtarou_Hyouka_Unforgiven]

@@laszlogabor1969 amazon but it's china version

[@Variouscartoontopic]

Why is it named Alibaba in China, it's an Arabian name actually

[@NicholasLeung_nktleung]

That's a thick metropolitan aussie accent

[@iamkei6799]

Where did you get the black translating tool from ? The one that can translate both ways

[@dreamcatcher478]

I am very happy that I am able to understand and learn Chinese in Malaysia. Good language mandarin

[@Variouscartoontopic]

Tamil? Three languages in Malaysia Mandarin, Malay & Tamil

[@IndoTitus_Pullo]

only one issue ..its awkward 😂

[@spamansh1710]

Ah technology you never cease to amaze me

[@0308valentin]

A little hard to set up due to the size of the touchscreen and lack of specific instructions kzbin.infoUgkxNkNu8Sb6OAjgDHKMklYTaO-lJ4YPAIoS but when set up it is easy to use., I look forward to using it in travel when I am in a country where I am clueless in the language.

[@lynx873]

Thank you . you hey me alot 😃

[@blueluny]

When the handbrake went on I laughed

[@MT-lq9fq]

would you mind if i took this short cut

[@kimlungcy2873]

That's great! I like it 😱👍👍👍👍👍

[@quiettornado1970]

sad thing is I understand some of what the machine said. and my brain goes O.O ... that doesn't match.

[@PDS21st]

Traveling in Shenzhen speaking only in Cantonese?

[@yeswecanhk]

P.D. Styger no way

[@barronhung8246]

Maybe possible

[@EUeuguene]

firat speak mandarin,sec is hakka and the last one is cantonese.

[@fwcolb]

Are there any Vietnamese-speaking viewers who could inform us about how well this technology works with Vietnamese? Machine translation of Vietnamese might work well because the language uses the Latin alphabet with diacritical marks (glyphs) for tones. In effect, Vietnamese writing is phonetic and therefore ought to be more amenable for machine translation than the old system of Vietnamese writing that was dominated by Chinese characters.

[@girl.tomboy9856]

Where I can get this

[@nathanbaez4438]

What's the name of that device voice

[@horaceanderson7598]

What is the price

[@angelorabiz9888]

Sim card 200 yuan? Wtf! In philipines it cost only 1 dollar per sim.

[@alexcool40]

I need one because I will be visiting China on November ... From where I can buy ?

[@NaughtyPanda888]

Nice Nice Aliexpress

[@NaughtyPanda888]

Nice Nice kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKutdKyilqxsiLeNou can buy it here.

[@miali6059]

Omg, it is just on front of my apartment.

[@TheJelloash]

reporter: Santa need opportunity 需要機會的聖誕老人 Taxi driver: uhhh

[@Happy-gv2mf]

11 million damn, thats close to the population of Ontario

[@PhantomViper49]

1:47 guy running in the back 😂

[@vergilbitan1443]

Is this an accurate?

[@TheIntelligentElephant71133]

Wow 🤩

[@kenyup5424]

It’s showing us the translator sometimes it didn’t work ,apparently google translate app is way more better,it sucks in many cases

[@mackrearesearch2744]

The problem is when the local chinese answer back, the video didn't show that the device translated it back to you.

[@marvelcomdc2070]

Problem is not the translation its the diction. Device captures wrong words spoken.

[@iamjohnporter67]

I think the problem is that we speaking differently so the translator has a hard time what we are trying to say.

[@jaymack4664]

Have them talk back to you and see how the device works

[@chinmaychandraunshuh]

There are boards written in English

[@thufailk3177]

Uff insane stuff

[@williamkaibelwkm]

You can still go Shenzhen without these translators, many of them know at least basic English

[@DanielaMSP]

Where fuck gave those things being when you had to take that paper book and there where never words you really needed :/ So this is pretty cool :D

[@jamesthomas9879]

ln my opinion, using a device like that will obviously affect the way we express and understand so it is better to learn the language before going abroad.

[@restlessbeing1398]

Dude are you kidding? I go to 4 countries every year for work I ain't learning all that no fking way

[@chibiSORAchibiL]

James, you are using a pic of Jaejoong! 8D Love jaejoong

[@MawangHujan-fl2zn]

If you pronounce the word clearly, and you speak slowly, I think this device can translate the words correctly.

[@jivenesspie]

Interesting

[@serenalie]

The translation devices it horrible

[@kempkaching8773]

Serena lie no, its just how the language speaks. Im chinese..

[@khettalie]

Isn't it weird, a random person comes to you with a translator?

[@kempkaching8773]

Well they need help going somewhere or else their just stuck their wondering where to go.

[@khettalie]

@@kempkaching8773 I know, but without *"excuse me"* or something?

[@DanielDavis730]

But in the Philippines there like 64 different languages. Just alone

[@Variouscartoontopic]

Here in India, we have more than 1000 languages, among that, only 22 are official major languages.

[@Justwanthavefun_100]

Hahaha 🤣 luckily not translated into something bad

[@johig4378]

Can I get around China without your loud music which interferes with the video?

[@kitb9504]

If u dunno mando then cantonese better option than English

[@rockafelo5431]

1:13 the one and only worst translation..the rest is not bad.

[@sukhkaur3786]

it's not vietnamese he is China, so he’s use Chinese language, not this language do you understand?

[@justinwhaley1288]

That translator looks broken

[@farandymizan6837]

They don't speakandarin, but Cantonese

[@andreas2042]

No they don't. At least most of them. You know that Shenzhen is a city that is lucky enough to grow rapidly. That means the population came from many region of China. Many of them speak Mandarin too. You can try speak Cantonese to them. You will find almost like 1 out of 10 people who understands Cantonese

[@gabrielgan369]

Hmm that translator doesn’t translate names of places very well

[@kaiwenshi9407]

Ask younger people. They would know

[@user-ij6eb8mg4v]

oh that translator sucks. But as a Shenzhenese I understand every location I said

[@Kianglekable]

Mandarin isn't everything, it's not the only thing in life But it's still an important language in Shenzhen

[@pausesmana5531]

There should be a girlfriend translator xD

[@flowersflower110]

Why Chinese needs a translator?

[@thinkabout288]

W H A T 😆👍

[@maozedoinked8972]

How bout google translate

[@ouranhshc100]

Google isn't very accurate with south east Asian languages. They have to be updated and pronunciation isn't right either. I know the Spanish one is up to date

[@maozedoinked8972]

Music_is_Calming um China is not se Asia?

[@ouranhshc100]

@@maozedoinked8972 my point is still that Google translate isn't accurate

[@maozedoinked8972]

@@ouranhshc100 k idk bout other languages but its decent in Mandarin

[@lxjilyfe]

epic fail

[@kempkaching8773]

Alex Huh no it’s just how the language speaks. Im half chinese btw -_-

[@cayleethompson3264]

It wrong gone must china speaking please

[@Alisters_Adventures]

Should have used google translate

[@kempkaching8773]

Guest you do not know why she made this video for?

[@memyself-nd-i]

just use free google translate

[@mmhhdmjyyb]

去买个科大讯飞吧，好多了

[@tonyxing453]

Big baby wtflol

[@zarrica9739]

Tae

[@jjgg9991]

Lots of eror words

[@biN-lt5mb]

I'm chinese :|

[@clairee4939]

我是英国人，在英国。 你住哪儿？

[@biN-lt5mb]

@@clairee4939 马来西业

[@biN-lt5mb]

I don't live in the us America etc I live in malaysia

[@clairee4939]

​@@biN-lt5mb 我有一个华人朋友，他生在马来西亚。

[@FlamingoVlogs]

Learn Spanish

[@kempkaching8773]

Why are you so obsessed with Spanish. What does it have to do with learning that?

[@FlamingoVlogs]

WolfyMtGems good day to you sir good day 🤓 my wife is Chinese🇨🇳 & needs one of those to comunícate with my family In Mexico 🇲🇽 .

[@testxxxx123]

That translation machine is useless, got like 3/10 times right, bad...

[@qingwang3453]

Terrible translation machine lol

[@Saiputera]

Lmao she look chinese then aussie yo but can't speak chinese😂😂😂

[@NibblesTheNibbler]

This has to be one of the dumbest comments! First off, she looks like she is biracial, with some sort of Asian ancestry (not necessarily Chinese). Second, there are literally hundreds of millions of people (if not more) who don't speak the language of their ancestry. My ethnic ancestry is mostly German and Norwegian, but since I was born in the U.S. it's obvious that I speak English and not my ancestral languages. And since she is an Aussie, naturally she speaks English.

[@kaleesmach]

I think Google translate does better 😄

[@kempkaching8773]

Kaleeswaran .B well sometimes it makes it better but it’s just how the language speaks. Im half chinese by the way

[@pleaseenteraname.5862]

No it’s much slower

[@alanj9091]

bad translator. how much is it?

[@zouyi8928]

60% of the translation is wrong.

[@kempkaching8773]

Zou Yi no it’s just how we speak, I know its weird in English but its better understanding it in Chinese. Im half chinese btw.

[@zouyi8928]

I mean the Chinese translation is pretty bad. The device is literally bad.@@kempkaching8773

[@kempkaching8773]

Zou Yi yeah. Wait like what do you mean. Like in english or ??? Thats literally how we speak but in English its horrible grammar. If you were chinese you would understand it

[@zouyi8928]

@@kempkaching8773 Like in 0:06, 'where is the big elephant ', the device translated to 'Where is the big baby(in Chinese language)'. It is none of the business of the grammar issue, just incorrect translation.

[@Ghost3789]

Chinese people don't speak Chinese by the way.

[@kempkaching8773]

Ghost3789 liar, Im chinese ._.

[@steinleo2498]

So lame,,,

[@prestonooi8317]

That's a pretty shitty translator