An essential gadget for traveling in Japan: a super-fast 0.2-second Japanese translator

By MOOK Scenic Spots’ Shun, compiled and reported

The 2020 Olympics will be hosted in Tokyo, marking Japan’s fourth time hosting the Games — the third most of any country in the world. With advancing technology and transportation, international tourist numbers to Japan continue to rise. According to statistics, in 2016, the number of Taiwanese tourists visiting Japan approached 5 million, making Japan the most loved travel destination for Taiwanese. In light of this, related companies have sensed business opportunities. At the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), an offline instant translator called ili was unveiled, capable of translating in just 0.2 seconds in real-time — a huge boon for travelers to Japan who struggle with the language, greatly increasing the appeal of visiting Japan.

The ili offline instant translator looks like a voice recorder and is very lightweight; its standout feature is that it can perform real-time translation even without an internet connection. This is a significant difference from the current situation where most tourists visiting Japan rely on online translation tools. Operating ili is also very simple — just press the function button, speak the sentence you want translated into the microphone on the device, and it will instantly audibly translate for the person you’re communicating with.

The bottom of the ili device features a battery and USB port, allowing future software updates via USB connection to a computer. In addition to offline functionality, it also includes built-in common phrases and other features.