Google announced that handwriting is now available as an input option for Google Translate on the Google Translate homepage.
“Handwriting input lets you translate a written expression, even if you don’t know how to type the characters,” writes product manager Xiangye Xiao in a blog post. “For example, suppose you see the Chinese expression “饺子” and want to know its meaning in English, but have no idea how to type these characters. Using the new handwriting input tool, you can simply draw these characters on your screen and instantly see the translation.”
“Once you have chosen your input language, you will see the input tools icon at the bottom of the text area,” Xiao adds. “Click the input tools icon to switch to handwriting in the drop-down menu. You can then begin drawing your text on the main panel of the handwriting tool. You can draw multiple characters at once.”
Last year, Google launched the feature for Android.
This past February, Google added virtual keyboards, input method editors and transliteration input tools to Google Input Tools.
The handwriting feature supports 45 languages. You can see the full list here. The feature is also available in the Google Input Chrome extension.
