Google Maps now automatically translates reviews to your language

Google Maps is a fantastic tool to have when traveling in a foreign country, and now it's even better as Google is automatically translating place reviews to the language you have set on your device. While you could of course always copy a review written in the local language and bring it over to a translation app, it's simpler when Google does the work for you.

Now when viewing a Google Maps place review in another language, you'll see the translated copy first prepended by "(Translated by Google)" — you'll also see the original text below, which could help you manage any minor translation errors. The results are the same if you happen to find a place that's in the Maps database via Google Search.

The translation won't work for every language pair out there, but if you've ever use Google Translate, you have a good idea of which languages it can handle — and, well, it's a lot of languages. While there's a good chance you can find Google Maps reviews in both English and the local language when you're traveling to popular destinations, this is a huge improvement for people who are visiting from a third area that has a completely different language.

Google Maps continues to be one of the great go-to travel apps no matter where you're headed, and it's the small improvements like this that add up to make it indispensable for travelers.

Andrew Martonik

Andrew was an Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central between 2012 and 2020.