Will Google's Conversation Mode, which uses two of its already available technologies Google Translate and Android Voice Actions, succeed in removing language barriers and allow us to use or phones as personal simultaneous translators? 

An article on Singularity Hub reminds us that Google demonstrated its Conversation Mode at the IFA 2010 technology show held in Berlin in September 2010.

The following video clip shows that the technology, which combines Voice Actions for Android with Google Translate to enable an Android phone to provide phrase-by-phrase translation, isn't without its glitches but given perseverance and the addition of human intelligence is an almost workable solution.

At first viewing this demonstration may not seem at all special -  other smartphone translation apps already exist that can translate between a single language to English. However when you take into account the fact that  Google Translate currently covers 57 languages the power of Conversation Mode becomes apparent. We may indeed all have access to an almost-universal translation facility when Google launches this feature in the coming months.

Related article:

Inside Google Translate