[jimbob70]

In HK mag there was a section on gadgets and it showed this pen device that you can scan chinese text ie a menu and it hows the english translation on an lcd panel on the handle.

anyone had experience of it? whether its worth the money?

[Janetw]

Hi Jimbo,
I have used one of these a while back when reading German to English and it was good if the text was clear as you would expect, like in a magazine or book.I could nopt use it for cards / letters from my in-laws for example.
Sometimes the 'exact' translation or 'dictionary' translation does not make sense esp if the word in one language has several meanings in the other.....
This was about 4/5 years ago and they could have moved on some since then - I also remember it being expensive. My brother in law found it very useful for business but I wasn't inmressed enough to buy it for myself for personal use.

[jimbob70]

thanks, I kind of expect hilarious babelfish/engrish type translation from this thing but may be useful for picking up nouns in a menu.

prices have come down by now i reckon.