While China's inbound and outbound travel continued to boom this summer with the holiday rush approaching, sales of translator machines have soared, the Global Times has learned.
There has been an increase in sales of translation machines recently, a spokesperson from Timekettle, told the Global Times on Wednesday, citing the company's TimekettleFluentalk T1, a handheld translator device for travel.
While sales of translation machines rose, driven by increased inbound and outbound tourists, the rental business of portable translators has jumped too lately.
A 63-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Li told the Global Times that she rented a translator for her just-ended tour in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
"Our travel group of four aunties needs a translator machine to conquer language barriers abroad. We are not good at speaking English. The machine not only translates Chinese into English, but also local languages, which makes communication much easier," said Li, adding that she rented a smart translator from iFLYTEK.
Companies are stepping up efforts to boost sales of their translation machines, the Global Times has learned.
"We have been considering cooperation with airports and land ports, so as to provide portable translation service to inbound and outbound travelers directly," the Timekettle spokesperson said.
Timekettle's translator machines have been available in stores across more than 30 domestic airports, which enable users to take them for a test drive.
