A species of alien creature from Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the Babel Fish, was inserted into the ear and could instantly translate any language. This allowed for interspecies communication as a universal translator.

Google may just have produced their own Babel Fish; the Google Pixel Buds are a simultaneous translation device.

The Pixel Buds are able to communicate with Google phones and the Google Assistant. Google claims that their software can translate 40 different spoken languages quickly enough to participate in conversation. The translation software is run on Google’s AI-focused data centers. The translation pathway is speech to text, to text in another language, to speech.

One user wears earbuds while the other one uses the phone. Users can speak into their devices. The earbud user speaks and listens via the earbuds and microphone.

The phone plays the translation aloud and listens for the user’s response. There is currently a conversation feature with Google Translate.

Current difficulties with the feature include the background noise. The background can make translation difficult and cause difficulties with the app’s ability to determine when one user stops speaking to translate. The fix with the Pixel Buds is the ability of the earbud user to toggle speaking and listening settings. This allows the Pixel Buds to provide a cleaner translation speaker to speaker.

Unveiled Oct. 4, 2017, the Pixel Buds performed well in a live demo on stage. Users spoke in Swedish and English using a Pixel 2 smartphone.

With a seamless demo, the translation game could be changed forever. For big businesses and governments, human translators are still going to be an important part of life.

The ability to translate meaning and tone are important aspects of communication.

The Pixel Buds, and further versions of this tech, are going to be immensely important to daily communications, though. This technology has major implications for the education system.

A high school student learning English can use a Pixel and Pixel Buds to translate lessons in real time. This could be a way to keep students engaged, even if their English is not at grade level.

A major life challenge for English learners is the lack of ability to communicate medical needs.

Students will miss time to act as a translator for their parents. Hospitals don’t always have the resources for enough translators, especially a diverse group of translators.

Again, having human translators is a major assistance, and a translator app will not replace that. The ease of communication with Pixel Buds can assist low income families and regions where translators may be scarce.

The Google Pixel Buds are not the only translation technology available at the moment. Bragi Dah Pro earbuds, Skype Translator and others are offering comprehensive translators that can operate in near real-time.

In line with many technological trends, Google appears to be in a position to succeed. The growth of wearable and mobile translators is an area for quick advancement.

The success of any of these company approaches could have a major impact and let us “babel” on.