Google Translate is readying a welcome usability feature travelers will love

Google Translate is receiving plenty of love from its maker behind the scenes. As we’ve previously highlighted in our Authority Insights coverage, we uncovered evidence of Translate’s new look live conversations, a host of new widgets, and changes that would give more control over alternative translations to users. In line with that latter feature, we’ve now uncovered another Google Translate usability upgrade.

As part of our investigation into app version 10.8.48.878519627.2-release, Google Translate could soon allow users to pin their favorite or frequently used languages to the language selection page. While Translate does feature a “Recent languages” section that can list up to 9 languages at the top of the page, this is the limit; selecting more languages will remove some from this list. However, a new “Pinned languages” section lets users keep up to 10 languages permanently in view, above the “Recent languages” list.

This isn’t a groundbreaking feature, but this small addition should massively reduce friction for users who frequently switch between multiple languages. If you’re visiting a country with multiple spoken languages, a Pinned languages section should make it far easier to find and select these in a pinch.

To pin a language, users swipe right across it and tap the pin icon that appears. Unpinning a language involves the same process, but an unpin button will appear instead.

It’s unclear when this feature will be available in the shop-window version of Google Translate, but it’ll be a popular addition for a large portion of its user base.