A NEW DXER'S TOOL - A UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR À LA STAR TREK!
Although not perfect, Google's Voice Translator tool can be a great 
addition to a DXer's tool box. (Emphasis on CAN BE.)
It is NOT perfect but it works very well, if the languages in question 
are in the database and if the audio is clear enough. I have used it to 
identify stations I have heard and  figure out the content of a program 
to gather program details for reception reports.
There are some quirks in using it that can be annoying. But there are 
workarounds.
Basically, it listens to the audio through the computer's microphone and 
takes the speaker's words and types them on the screen in the speaker's 
language. Google's translator instantaneously translate the words in the 
target language. Besides using it live, I have recorded the audio of my 
DX catches and played the recordings back through the computer that way.
It is fairly simple to use. You just figure out the language of the 
speaker and put it in the left hand side, and enter the target language 
on the right hand side. Then just click on the microphone on the left box.
I have not figured out a way to do this without using the computer's 
microphone (i.e. line-out to line-in, or in the computer internally.)  I 
imagine that someone could experiment and figure out ways to do this. 
Also, I have found it does not work at all with Firefox, but it does 
work with Chrome and Microsoft Edge.  I imagine there is some 
proprietary business going on,
REMEMBER, this is not a panacea, nor does it work in ALL instances, but 
it works well in enough cases to be another tool in a DXer's Tool Box. 
And while not as efficient as the Universal Translator in the Star Trek 
Canon, it is one like the one used there albeit at an embryonic stage.
Below is an example of how this works.  Of course, the translation is 
not perfect, but there are enough clues to let you know that this is 
likely from Family Radio and there are some reception details that you 
can dig out to use for a reception report.  I have used it with Spanish, 
Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and a 
few others with good success. (I would advise cautionl when writing 
reception reports with this, because the translations are not 100% 
accurate. To be as sure as possible with what you put in your reception 
report, remember that web searches such as DuckGoDuck, Bing, and Google 
are your friends.)
Bill Harms
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