Talking Translator Pro

This program provides some useful language-translation tools, yet suffers from a few problems that are tough to overlook. The logically organized main window displays large icons for the translator, the text reader, the text editor, and the dictionary. The program will translate up to 200 words to and from a few languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian. Strangely enough, there's no dedicated Speak button on the Translator window; you have to check the Auto-read box to get the program to read back its text translations. In some tests, we couldn't get the dictionary to work at all, and in others, the application hung when translating words. On the plus side, written translations were on the mark, and it's nice that the text reader allows you to import documents or Web pages. You can choose among 10 male and female voices, then alter the speaking speed and pitch, but all voices are unfortunately based on the Microsoft Speech Engine, which can be very difficult to understand. Talking Translator Pro looks as if it's on the right track, but we advise language lovers to proceed with caution.