Google Translator has a major flaw: when used to translate speech to text, it often doesn't start translating after you launch the microphone. It stalls and registers nothing, Arrrgh! If used to practice listening on the headlines in Thai, I'd say it will leave you high and dry in one spoken sentence out of three.

 

Here's a speech-to-text app that seems to do a much better job:

 

 

I think you'll find this very effective for your needs:

 

I'll give it a try, thanks.

 

P.S. Strange, when I tried to download Live Transcribe, it turned out it was already on my phone. Were other apps using it in the background? However, I can only access it through Google Play Store. The app is invisible in my settings.

 

OK, now I get it. It was tucked away under "Accessibility" in my Android settings! I managed to get it to produce an icon on my home screen.

31 minutes ago, JackGats said:

it turned out it was already on my phone.

 

I think it's standard on all Samsung devices.

 

I strongly recommend you set it up under the accessibility functions as a "Shortcut" key. This will add a stick figure on the bottom of your phone next to your home/tab/down keys. 

I have the impression that Google Translate works better on my Galaxy since I opened Live Transcribed in the background (rather than leave it buried within the Accessibility Settings). Could Live Transcribed be an enabler for audio-to-text applications?