Google Translate just got way smarter and works on all your earbuds now

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Google’s dropping some serious upgrades to Translate that’ll make you wonder how we ever survived those cringe-worthy literal translations.

The company’s unleashing Gemini AI to finally understand that “stealing my thunder” doesn’t involve actual weather theft, plus they’re democratizing live translation beyond their own hardware, according to Google.

Here’s the big deal: Live translation is now rolling out in beta to all earbuds, not just Google’s Pixel Buds. That means your AirPods, your janky Amazon specials, whatever—we can all tap into real-time translation across 70+ languages.

The feature is hitting the US, Mexico, and India first, with plans to expand globally and hit iOS in 2026.

But the real magic is Gemini doing the heavy lifting

Instead of those robotic word-for-word translations that make you sound like a malfunctioning robot, the AI actually parses context to nail idioms, slang, and local expressions.

It preserves the speaker’s tone, emphasis, and cadence, so translations feel natural rather than like they’ve been through a meat grinder.

Google’s also leveling up its language learning tools with better pronunciation feedback, improvement tips, and a streak counter (because apparently we all need gamification to stay motivated).

The service is expanding to 20 new countries including Germany, India, Sweden, and Taiwan, with new language pairs like German and Portuguese for English speakers.

The beta’s currently live in the US and India for the Gemini-powered features, so if you’ve been putting off learning a new language or planning that international trip, now’s probably the time to dive in.

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com.