With Expo 2020 Dubai around the corner, the UAE is expected to welcome about 25 million visitors from all over the world. And with that number of guests speaking hundreds of languages, an app that can smash the language barrier will come in handy.

US technology firm Avaya on Sunday began demonstrating an application that has the capability to translate over 1,000 languages - simultaneously and live.

The app, which is part of Avaya Vantage, pledges to provide a seamless experience when it comes to people communicating with each other.

The app's basics allow a user to speak or type something in his or her own language, and the one on the receiving end will receive this in their native dialect.

"We hope these practical solutions will inspire others to leverage the tremendous potential of open platforms in creating meaningful and impactful experiences," Frederick Sabty, vice-president for hospitality worldwide at Avaya, said.

Google, too
Meanwhile, Google also announced on Sunday that 13 new languages have been added to its camera translations.

Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil, Thai, Telugu and Vietnamese are now supported. It has been rolled out to the Google Translate apps on Android and iOS.

This now brings the total number of supported languages to 50 on both operating systems.

In the Google Translate app - which is powered by machine learning - users can just choose the languages they wish to translate, then tap on the camera icon to snap a photo of a sign, menu, or text in a foreign language. Swiping over the parts of text you'd like to translate will show translation at the top in blue.

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