Skip to main content [aditude-amp id="stickyleaderboard" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":858941,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"dev,mobile,","session":"A"}']

Mobile devs: Google will officially translate your Android apps

Android was everywhere, literally

Image Credit: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

Your Android app could soon be speaking French, Swedish, Hindi, and many more languages now that Google officially launched its mobile app translation service today.

Google announced that it would be opening up a translation service at Google I/O and officially released it. Developers can submit their applications and the desired language. From there, Google finds a native speaker to take your app from one language to une autre langue.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":858941,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"dev,mobile,","session":"A"}']

The cost depend son the app, but Google says generally, a small app will cost $75 and a large app will cost $150 per language.


Editor’s note: Developers! If you’re good and want to be great, our upcoming DevBeat conference, Nov. 12-Nov. 13 in San Francisco, is a hands-on event packed with master classes, presentations, Q&As, and hackathons, all aimed at boosting your code skills, security knowledge, hardware hacking, and career development. Register now.

AI Weekly

The must-read newsletter for AI and Big Data industry written by Khari Johnson, Kyle Wiggers, and Seth Colaner.

Included with VentureBeat Insider and VentureBeat VIP memberships.


Google pointed out in its announcement of the service that people “turn on” 1.5 million new Android devices a day around the world. Google further announced at Google I/O there have been more than 900 million Android activations. And that was just in May.

Now, Android has 81 percent of the global mobile marketshare, according to research from Strategy Analytics. Millions of people find it more accessible and more affordable than most smartphones, including Apple’s iPhone and the Windows Phone, which seems to be creeping up.

If you’re stuck in one language, you’re missing out a huge market of people and likely a huge number of downloads. And Google isn’t shy about sharing these numbers. A dating app called SayHi Chat tried Google’s translation pilot program and found that after translating to 13 different languages, it increased downloads by 120 percent.

Google recommends you check out the statics portion of your Android app manager and check out what countries you may already have downloads in. Since free apps are available anywhere Google Play is, you might be surprised.

VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More