Google Translate added a few features to its main web home, including instant translations as you type. What's really helpful is a bit more tucked away: phonetic pronunciations for non-Roman alphabets, like Chinese, and text-to-speech pronunciations for translating to English.

Heading to a country with an alphabet nothing like yours is intimidating, so Google's Roman-ized pronunciation guides are certainly helpful. For those translating to Arabic, Persian or Hindi, there's also an option to type out the way words sound and have Google guess at what word you're trying to enter when you lack the specific keyboard.

Google runs down its latest improvements in this quick video overview:

What features would make Translate more helpful for the way you use it? Share the suggestions in the comments.

Send an email to Kevin Purdy, the author of this post, at kevin@lifehacker.com.