Google Translate doesn’t cut it, so a new service taps human translators over the phone

You’re traveling in a new country and come across a charming girl or guy. You strike up a conversation through Google Translate (because while traveling you still have an internet connection, you tech-savvy you), but instead of “you look pretty tonight,” the sentences come out telling the other person to do unspeakable things to their mother.

The same screw-up could occur with a doctor or taxi driver, and it’s a horror and headache many expats and travelers are all too familiar with. For phrasal translations, particularly from English to non-Western languages, computerized translation systems are a godsend and improving, but nothing comes close to the real deal of having a buddy next to you who speaks the language and can make sure you don’t embarrass yourself – or at least send you home safely.

That’s the vision behind Linqapp, a language exchange app launched in 2013 that crowdsources translations by real people, kind of like Flitto and Hellotalk. Founded by German Sebastian Ang (pictured left in the team photo) and Guatemalan David Vega, the Taipei-based startup is fostering a language enthusiast community of some 80,000 active users who participate in translation forums, group chats, language exchanges, and personal translation requests.

The startup aims to one-up rivals this week at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, where it has announced the launch of Linqapp Live – a service that connects you in real-time to translators who can help you over a voice call on the spot. The makers claim the live translation service is the first of its kind.

“We want to become the platform where you can find a native speaker of any language who will help you,” Sebastian explains to Tech in Asia at Linqapp’s booth in the Taiwanese pavilion. “We believe we can give much better language assistance than Google Translate.”

One-minute connection

Linqapp is going up against Korean startup Flitto, which stole the show at this very tech conference in 2013 with its crowdsourcing translation site. There’s also Hellotalk, which is made by a Chinese startup – and not to mention the old heavyweight Rosetta Stone’s RWorld, a chat-based language exchange social network. But the Linqapp team says its product stands apart from the competition as an “all-around” app that includes translation assistance as well as language exchange, proofreading, and explaining cultural questions.

That’s the reason for Linqapp Live, now available on Android and iOS. After Linqapp Live users pick their native tongue and the language they need help with, they are connected to a native speaker within one minute, the company claims. It’ll start with Chinese-to-English and vice-versa and then expand based on demand from users. It’s meant to help in not only emergency situations, but also in practicing language skills or getting immediate feedback on language questions.

It’s all for free for Linqapp community members. Users earn credits by helping others and can use those for translation requests. For those who run out of points or need a quick translation, in-app purchases are available, with a five-minute conversation costing less than US$1, says Sebastian.

Sebastian and David, who were MBA international students struggling with language barriers while learning Chinese in Taiwan, were frustrated at the computer-automated translation options available. They came up with the idea for Linqapp to be a crowdsourced translation service, and it developed into a forum of native speakers of different languages who exchanged their skills with one another. David has since left the company.

‘Language assistants’

The live app was the next logical step in expanding the Linqapp service, according to Kevin Lim, the communications manager. “Linqapp, however useful, is limited in that there is a small wait in receiving help for language questions,” he tells Tech in Asia. “Linqapp Live is simply another type of language assistance service but it is unique in that it is immediate and live. Users can get feedback in real time from anywhere and anytime.”

Translators for the live service are current community members who have a proven track record in their own language, which is determined by their reputation level in the Linqapp community, he explains. Users of the live service can also rate the quality of the assistance for each request.

Where’s the money?