Pros: Compact. Protective flip-cover. Has everyday phrases. calculator and hangman. Quizzes.
Cons: Only about 90% of words you look up will be there
The Bottom Line: If you are planning on taking up a spanish class, or if you just want to take a vacation in Spain, you might want to get one of these translators.
shippo225's Full Review: Franklin Electronic TES-118 Translator
The Simple "Spanglish" Translator
.....I've had the Franklin TES-118 Translator for a year now. I wanted to get an electronic pocket translator because I am taking a spanish class at school. It has helped me a great deal. It wasn't expensive either. You could pay upwards of a hundred dollars for a good electronic translator.
The Looks:
.....The Franklin TES-118 Translator is about the size of a drivers liscense card. It is about a quarter inch thick. The unit is mostly blue with a tannish white flip cover. There is an open area on the flip cover to view the screen. I don't see why they did that. There is also an open are where the power button pops out a bit. Once again, I don't see the point of it, but oh well.
.....The unit runs on a CR2032 3-volt lithium cell nickel-sized battery. A battery comes with the device and will last for a long time. You probably will never have to replace the battery, maybe once.
The Package:
.....You only get two things in the package when you purchase the Franklin TES-118 Translator, the translator and the instructions. When you press the power button for the first time, and each time you replace the battery, you will be prompted to select 'e' for english or 's' para español. Once you've done that, you're ready to go.
Translating:
.....The main feature, of course, is the word translator. You can translate from english to spanish and vis versa.
.....Located just under the screen are five function buttons. The first, left, function key is for this purpose. Press it once to go from english to spanish and twice for vis versa.
.....Type in the word you wish to translate. Press enter and it shows you one of two things. A direct translate will show you the word in the other language, whereas, if not you will see a screen that says 'found: #'. This either means that there are different forms of the word or that there are common phrases that use the word.
.....When you type in a verb, you can conjugate it by pressing the 'conj' button. For example, if you type in the word 'go' and press conjugate, it will come up: I go, yo voy.
Phrases:
.....The second function key is Translate Phases. There are thirteen catagories of everyday common phrases to chose from. Get phrases from shopping to the weather. Chose a catagory and a list of phrases shows. There is a phrases for almost any situation you are in.
Names and Phone Numbers, or Databank:
.....This is where you can store people's names and numbers. Approximately a hundred.
.....This feature is within the third function key. Press it once to bring up the databank menu. You can chose to creat a new contact, edit existing ones, delete 'em, view contact list, or to erase all names and numbers from the databank.
Calculator and Conversions:
.....The fourth function key is the basic calculator and metric to standard, and vis versa, converter. The basic calculator does basic math, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and dividing. You can do percents, negetives, decimals, and square-roots. There is MR, MC, M- and M+.
.....For converting measurements, press the calculator button again. You can convert tempurature, weight, liquid, length, and money.
Local and World Clock:
.....The fifth function key is for this. This feature is the default when you push the power button. You can see your local time, along with the current time in forty-four others places in the world. Pressing the clock button once shows local time, twice shows others.
The Menu Features:
.....The Menu button is located just right of the 'm' on the keyboard. Your menu choses are games, chose language, and view translator demo.
.....If you chose games, you have to choice to play hangman or to do a quiz. Hangman can be played in either spanish or english. The quiz is a simple learning tool to test your knowledge. It will show a word in spanish and press enter to see the english word.
.....The language selection just allows you to change the system language to view menus in.
.....To quickly learn how to use the translator, chose demo in the Menu menu. It shows an auto-scrolling demonstration on how to use all of the features.
If you have any questions about the translator or how to use it, please feel free to contact me at ----------------------------------shippo522@hotmail.com------------
Over half a million translations to and from English and Spanish 2,000 categorized conversational phrases Advanced verb conjugation Hangman and Quiz g...More at Amazon Marketplace
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.