AI Translating Earpieces, A Review!

I live in Taiwan, and my Mandarin is weak at best. So, the other day I did something that kind of surprised even me.  I bought myself a set of AI translating earpieces.  I was wondering how well they worked, so I thought I could risk a few bucks and get a set to try out. So, I did.  Here’s my review.

You see them on Instagram and other places for just about $650 NTD ($20.00 US).  They sell on Amazon for $29.00 USD ($956 NTD) all the way up to $300.00 USD ($9900 NTD).  I decided to get a mid-priced set.  I spent $49.99 USD ($1649.62 NTD). 

They were delivered promptly and I opened them.  The way they work is through an app called “vtrans.”  I loaded the app on my phone and started playing with them with my son-in-law Eric.  It took me a bit to figure out how to make them work, not because it’s difficult, but because I’m stupid.  I did eventually work it out. 

Then I took them to my tea shop and used them to talk to the tea master.  I spoke English and she responded in Mandarin.  They worked perfectly.  She was delighted with them and so was I. 

There are three keys to success with them.  First, it works better in a quiet room.  If there’s a lot of other people talking then those things also get translated and it gets really confusing.  The second thing is you need to speak clearly, especially in mandarin, because tones and sounds work together.  It can confuse the translator.  I was talking with someone yesterday who was saying battery, which sound similar to the sound of the word elevator and the translator kept confusing the two words. Finally, you need to wait until it finishes translating to answer, or it gets muddled together.

Those are the only issues I’ve experienced with them.  This is amazing technology.  If you’re planning to go abroad, somewhere where the language you speak isn’t spoken and they will really help you.  I can have more complex conversations with people now.  That’s quite a blessing.  It’s not perfect but Eric and I figured it was accurate about 85% of the time, so it’s still better than not wearing them. 

我住在台灣，而我的中文只能算是勉強能應付。所以，前幾天我做了一件連自己都感到驚訝的事情——我給自己買了一副 AI 翻譯耳機。

我很好奇它們的效果如何，所以想說反正也不算太貴，值得試試看。於是，我就買了一組來試用，這就是我的心得評價。

在 Instagram 和其他地方，你會看到它們的價格大約是 650 新台幣（20 美元）。在 Amazon 上，它們的價格從 29 美元（約 956 新台幣）一路飆升到 300 美元（約 9900 新台幣）。最後，我決定選擇一組中價位的耳機，花了 49.99 美元（約 1649.62 新台幣）。

耳機很快就送到了，我立刻打開來試用。它們的運作方式是透過一款名為「vtrans」的應用程式。我下載了這個 App 到手機上，然後開始跟我女婿 Eric 一起試玩。剛開始花了一點時間才搞懂怎麼使用，不是因為它們很難用，而是因為我太笨了。但最後，我還是弄懂了。

接著，我帶著耳機去茶店，想用它來跟茶師交流。我用英文說話，她用中文回答。結果效果非常完美！她對這個耳機感到驚喜，而我也一樣。

要讓這款耳機發揮最佳效果，有三個關鍵要素。第一，它在安靜的環境下效果比較好。如果周圍很多人在講話，耳機會把其他人的話也翻譯進去，這樣會變得很混亂。第二，說話時要清晰，特別是講中文時，因為中文的聲調和發音會影響意思。如果發音不夠清楚，翻譯器可能會搞混。我昨天跟一個人聊天時，他在說「電池」，但因為「電池」的發音跟「電梯」有點相似，翻譯器就一直把這兩個詞混在一起。最後，在回答對方之前，必須等翻譯完成，否則翻譯會混在一起，變得難以理解。

這是我唯一遇到的問題。這項科技真的很厲害！如果你要去一個講不同語言的國家，這種翻譯耳機會是你的好幫手。現在，我可以和別人進行更複雜的對話了，這真的是一種福氣。雖然它不是 100% 完美，但我和 Eric 測試後發現，它的準確率大約有 85%，所以戴上它總比不用來得好。

Eric with an AI Translating Earpiece

Here is a short video to show you how well they work:

這裡有一段短片來展示它們的效果有多好：

All posts. photos and video property of Taiwan Adventure Publications

Thanks to Eric Liu for his work on the video!