Google Translate can now transcribe speech in real time - meaning that if you're at an event and someone starts speaking in another language, you can understand what's going on. 

A key point is that it's not going to replace translation services like Otter.ai for chunks of text yet. For example, it won't deal fully with multiple speaker conversations and enable you to export the text - instead it's designed for real-time conversations. 

Also, Google says the feature is currently designed for one person speaking in a quiet environment, but that there's Conversation mode for a more complex chat. 

Google says that Transcribe will be rolling out in the next few days in the Android app at first. There's support for any combination of the following eight languages: English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai - although it'll naturally come to other 

To use the transcribe feature, go to the Translate app on Android. Tap the Transcribe icon on the home screen and select the source and target languages from the language dropdown at the top. You also see the original transcript, change the text size or choose a dark theme in the settings menu. 

Plus you're able to pause or restart transcription by tapping on the mic icon.