I received the Fluentalk M1 Mini Handheld Translator device by Timekettle right before my trip to Guatemala, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. This incredible little device can translate 36 languages (with 88 accents) instantly – with 13 languages available offline with a year of data included.
The amount of capabilities in one little device is pretty astounding. This small gadget seems almost futuristic. I remember a time when I started traveling decades ago and was faced with language barriers, and I wondered what it would be like if you could talk into a box and it would spit out another language. Well, that time is officially here.
Here in this review of the Fluentalk M1 Mini Handheld Translator Device, I’ll go through everything you need to know before you buy it. Including how it works, how well it works, which languages are included, and my experience using it.
What is a Fluentalk T1 Mini Handheld Translator Device
The Fluentalk T1 Handheld Translator Device is a portable translator. If you are traveling to anywhere where you do not speak the language, it’s an absolute lifesaver. It’s small enough to fit in your pocket and can instantly translate between languages.
With a convenient lanyard to go around your neck, you can quite literally wear it anywhere and translate on-the-go. It can translate out loud and in writing, and also has the capability to translate images.
How it Works
Instant talk translation means you can actually have conversations with people through the device, and swap languages back and forth. So, when you speak your language (let’s say English to Spanish for the sake of the example) into it, it will translate what you said in English into your target language (Spanish). When it translates, it will both speak what you said out loud in Spanish, and show it spelled out on the screen.
Then, you can swap the language, hand it to the person you are communicating with, and have them speak Spanish back into the device. Then, it will translate what they said in Spanish into English immediately, and write it in English on the screen as well as saying it out loud for you to hear. It’s amazing, really!
Languages it Works With
The Fluentalk T1 Handheld Translator Device works with 36 languages and 88 accents, which is simply amazing. This means that there’s a dialect of Spanish to choose for most Spanish-speaking countries – 21 of them, to be exact!!). You can truly minimize any confusion with this.
With the offline translating, it works back-and-forth with 13 languages. With photo translation, there are 39 languages. Here are the details:
Online Languages
The Online Languages are: Arabic , Bulgarian , Cantonese , Catalan , Chinese , Croatian , Czech , Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. The possibilities are endless!
The Dialects are different countries dialects of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Tamil.
Offline Languages
The Offline Languages are a bit more limited and must be from or to English or Chinese (but, yo are in luck if you are reading this blog in English – you can translate into these languages online:
Chinese ⇆ English, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, Russian, and German
English ⇆ Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, Russian, and German
Photo Translation Languages
The photo translation languages are: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Chinese (Cantonese), Japanese, Korean, Thai, Telugu, Tamil, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog, Urdu, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Slovenian, Hebrew, Greek, Turkish, and Arabic.
Capabilities
Here are the amazing capabilities of the Fluentalk T1 Handheld Translator Device:
Photo Translation
Photo translation is extremely valuable when traveling. I don’t know about you, but after a long day on the road it’s nice to be able to read the menu at dinner! This and more are exactly what you can do with this device.
Simply take a photo of whatever you want to translate, and the device will spit out the same photo with English words (or whatever your language is) instead, so you can read it. Whether you use it for a street sign, a menu, a transportation ticket, train timings, or a price list in a taxi, this is sure to come in handy.
Talk Translation
As I described above, the talk translation allows you to have a full conversaton with someone in two different languages. With 36 languages you can chat with just about anyone in most visited countries in the world. With you year of free data, you won’t have to worry about a thing.
Offline Translation
Unfortunately, you cannot speak in all 36 languages when you are offline or in areas without network coverage. Luckily, you can still do talk translation back and forth in 13 languages.
Data Service Packages
When you purchase the Fluentalk T1 Handheld Translator Device, it comes with one year of free data. This means a year of anywhere, anytime translation in all of the 36 languages and 88 dialects.
When it runs out, you can simply hotspot from your phone (if you have a SIM or an eSIM), use wifi, or update your data for a monthly or annual cost.
Shortcut Statement to Show People
One of my favorite features about the Fluentalk T1 Handheld Translator Device is that it comes built-in to prep people to converse through the translator, even if it’s something completely foreign to them. Once you select your target language, you can navigate to the ‘shortcut statement’ to show someone with whom you wish to have a conversation.
This statement says, “Excuse me, can you do me a favor? We can talk through this translator,” which I think is perfect to open up a conversation with someone.
User Guide
There’s also a convenient user guide page, which gives you a menu of options to find instructions on how to use the various functions of the device. One of the best things about the Fluentalk T1 Handheld Translator Device is that it is extremely simple.
You can only swipe between four screens – the photo translation screen, the talk translation screen, the offline translation screen, and the user guide, which has a few options. You can’t really get lost while trying to understand this device because it has simplified everything for you.
Situations to Use the Fluentalk T1 Handheld Translator Device
You can use this device in SO many ways! Here are some ideas:
- Speaking to Taxi Drivers
- Checking in for flights or speaking with flight attendants
- Communicating about missed flights
- Emergency or medical situations
- Speaking to police about problems
- Checking into hotels
- Ordering food at restaurants
- Haggling to purchase items at markets
- Buying transport tickets and making sure you are on the right train/bus
- Public transportation
- Asking for directions
- and more!
What is the Difference Between the T1 and the T1 Mini?
The T1 Mini is much smaller (the size of a credit card) with a 2.8 inch screen – a truly portable translator. The T1 has a 4-inch screen with more capabilities that are suited to travel as well but are more fully suited to business.
Feedback – My Experience with the Fluentalk T1 Handheld Translator Device
When I first turned on my Fuentalk translator, I was intrigued. I wasn’t sure how good it would really be, because I hadn’t seen anything like it before. I selected my language to English, and my translation language to Guatemalan Spanish, and spoke a full sentence into it as if I was buying vegetables at the market.
The speed at which it translated my sentence perfectly was absolutely impressive. Within moments of finishing my (long) sentence, the T1 device began speaking my sentence translated into Spanish, with the correct accent and everything. Because I am already decent at Spanish, I knew that it had reproduced my words perfectly – I guess that’s why they claim a 95% success rate.
And this was only in my Airbnb! I couldn’t wait to get out of the house and try speaking to people through it and perhaps haggling to buy some souvenirs or ordering a meal.
Reception by People
I will admit that people were a bit confused when I began talking into this little white box on a lanyard, but people got the hang of it surprisingly quickly. It’s not uncommon at all to have conversations with people over typing translate devices (or even Google Translate on your phone), so people are used to taking your phone and reading what is on the screen.
If anyone was confused at first when I was speaking into the device (or it was too loud and they couldn’t hear it well), I showed them the shortcut statement. This was received with intrigue by most people, and they were surely ready to hear more.
At this point people were usually watching me intently (and maybe a bit confusedly) as I spoke English into the translator. When I finished speaking and held it up to their ear, I must say I got so many impressed and surprised looks from people! Most people I spoke to with the T1 handheld translator device were excited to try to speak back to me, and I would say 95% of my conversations were successful.
The only few that were not successful were when it was too loud, or people seemed too confused or not willing to engage with me at all or look at the device. This is fine, as I used it in quite a few situations so I would expect at least a few people to want to be left alone!
Conclusion
My first rendezvous with the Fluentalk T1 Handheld Translator Device was amazingly successful, and I am absolutely impressed how much language technology can fit into such a tiny little credit-card-sized device.
I am still excited to try the device in languages that I cannot speak at all, which will surely be a lot more interesting and necessary. I have not needed to use the device in any emergency situations, but I can only foresee it being vitally helpful in any high-stress situation with a language barrier.
I will update this guide when I use the translator in different situations, as I also foresee it becoming an integral part of my travel essentials that I will bring with me everywhere I go! If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comment box below or message me on instagram.
Disclosure: Thanks to Timekettle for sponsoring this post. Of course, all words are my own and I LOVE my handheld translator!
Passionate, full-time travel blogger with over 230k on social media and 150kMPV blog. Extraordinary photographer with two DSLR's + a drone with a love for capturing candid moments, epic drone shots, and magical compositions. I'm a natural-born content creator originally from California, but I've been on the road for 9 years living, working, traveling, blogging, and photographing my way around the world. I recommend the most amazingly adventurous and unique + boutique travel experiences/stays and helpful products to my audience and write comprehensive guides on my website that have helped millions of travelers so far. I love to inspire people to plan their dream trips, and many readers have given feedback as such. The reach on my platforms continues to soar, especially when combining cutting-edge social content with optimized articles on my high-authority website.