[Kate 87]

I’m thinking about getting the Earscribe for an upcoming trip where I’ll need some help with a language that’s not super common. The product page says it supports a lot of languages, but I’m wondering if that includes smaller ones or if it’s mostly the big ones. Has anyone checked the app to see what’s actually in the list?

[EthanFree]

I actually checked the language list in the app before buying mine. It is pretty long, but the less common ones are mostly there as basic speech-to-text options. You will find them, just do not expect the same accuracy you get with Spanish or French. The bigger names are clearly the ones that got the most work put into them.

[Max Connor]

Since I wasn’t sure either, I actually messaged their support before buying and asked for the full list. They sent it over pretty fast. Might be worth doing that if you’ve got a specific language in mind.

[Pete Tilbrook]

I’d take the “156 languages” number with a pinch of salt. Mine covers all the usual stuff fine, but when I tried a regional dialect a while back it basically just gave me the standard version of the language instead. If your language is truly obscure, you might be better off checking if it’s listed in the app before you rely on it.

[LiamW]

Only the big ones are really solid. The rest are hit or miss.

[Gina Vale]

The “156 languages” thing sounds more impressive than it is in practice. I scrolled through the list once and yeah, the small ones are there, but they’re basically just speech-to-text placeholders. If your trip involves anything outside the usual tourist languages, I wouldn’t count on it being smooth.

[Kevin C]

Depends what you mean by “less common.” I scrolled through the list when I got mine and it had stuff like Basque and Welsh listed, which surprised me. But I wouldn’t count on those being smooth in a real conversation. The mainstream ones are clearly the ones they actually tuned. If your language is somewhere in the middle, you might get basic phrases through, but don’t expect nuance.

[Lisa Muller]

I guess I’m in the minority here, but I didn’t find the smaller languages all that bad. I used it for Catalan on a trip last year and it handled basic stuff fine. Not perfect, but decent enough to get by. Maybe I just got lucky with the ones I needed.

[Kelly Sun]

I had the same worry before buying mine. Scrolled through the app list while waiting for the earbuds to charge and it does have a lot of the less obvious ones, not just the big tourist languages. But I also noticed that some of the smaller ones only had one dialect option, which felt a bit limiting.

[Mike Reynolds]

Scrolled through mine before a trip to the Balkans and honestly the list is deeper than people give it credit for. I used it for Albanian, which is hardly a global powerhouse, and it held its own well enough for basic directions and ordering food. The big languages might be smoother, but I would not write off the smaller ones just because they are not top tier.

[Noah Kent]

If I were in your shoes, I would not buy these specifically for that one uncommon language. I would check the list first in the store or on someone else’s phone, but honestly, if my main need was a smaller language, I would probably just grab a dedicated translation app and keep my regular earbuds. It is a cool gadget, but I would not want to depend on it for something that important.

[SarahM]

I would just download the app first and look at the list before buying the earbuds. That is what I did with mine, and it took two minutes to see what I needed. If the language you need is not there, no point in ordering them at all.

[TommyWires]

Honestly I wouldn’t assume the list is just the big ones, but I also wouldn’t trust the “156 languages” number to mean every single one is actually useful in real conversation. The app list is easy enough to check on its own before you buy the buds, which is probably the smartest move if you’ve got a specific smaller language in mind. I feel like the gap between “supported” and “works well” gets pretty wide once you go past the usual suspects.

[coffeeandscreens]

I feel like the smaller languages are kind of a gamble with these things. You see the big number on the box and assume it covers everything, but the quality can drop off fast once you get past the usual suspects. I’d want to see the actual list before committing, because “supported” doesn’t always mean it’s actually good to use.

[Stan]

I scrolled the list before ordering and the smaller languages are definitely in there.

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