UNPROVEN — steps written from the apps' documented flows; any step your phone shows differently wins$0 · Zero network calls on this page · Nothing to install from here
The job
Conversation translation between the owner's phones and the world — English ↔ Spanish first, the household's working pair — fully offline where possible, for $0. This page is the readable form of PACKET-A14.md. The phones already ship with translate apps that work offline once their language packs are downloaded; the packet gets those packs onto the phone before they are needed, so conversation mode works with no connection at all.
Lane 1 (phones, built-in) is for talking to a person in front of you. Lane 2 (house bench — Argos Translate) is for documents and longer text at home. Phones for talking, the bench for reading.
Lane 1A — Android / Google Translate: download the offline packs
Owner-run, once, at home, on Wi-Fi. UNPROVEN until your first run — if your phone shows a different label or order, your phone wins.
Get on Wi-Fi. The pack download is the one step that needs a connection.
Open the Google Translate app. You will see the translation screen with two language names and a swap arrow between them.
Tap your profile picture or initial in the top-right corner. A menu opens.
Tap “Downloaded languages.” You will see a list of languages.
Download English. Tap the download arrow beside English; confirm Download if asked, and wait for it to finish.
Download Spanish. Tap the download arrow beside Spanish the same way, and wait for it to finish.
Check both show as downloaded. If one failed, tap its download arrow again while still on Wi-Fi.
Optional proof: turn on Airplane mode, set the pair to English ↔ Spanish, and translate a short test sentence. If it works with Airplane mode on, the offline lane is real on your phone.
Lane 1B — iPhone / Apple Translate: download the offline packs
Owner-run, once, at home, on Wi-Fi. UNPROVEN until your first run — if your phone shows a different label or order, your phone wins.
Get on Wi-Fi.
Open Settings.
Open the Translate settings. Scroll to Translate and tap it. (On newer iOS versions: Settings → Apps → Translate.)
Tap “Downloaded Languages.” You will see the languages available for offline use.
Download English. Tap English (or the download control beside it) and wait until it shows as downloaded.
Download Spanish. Tap Spanish the same way, and wait until it shows as downloaded.
Check both appear as downloaded languages.
Optional proof: turn on Airplane mode, open the Translate app, set the pair to English ↔ Spanish, and translate a short test sentence. If it works with Airplane mode on, the offline lane is real on your phone.
Lane 1 — conversation mode (both phone families)
Open the translate app — Google Translate on Android, Translate on iPhone.
Set the pair to English and Spanish. Use the swap arrow if they are the wrong way round for who speaks first.
Tap “Conversation.” A button near the bottom in Google Translate; the Conversation tab at the bottom in Apple Translate.
Tap the microphone and speak — one or two short, plain sentences, then stop. The app shows (and can speak) the translation.
Hand the turn over. The other person taps the microphone on their side and replies the same way.
Check what it heard. Most bad translations are bad hearing — if the written words are not the words that were said, say it again more slowly.
Lane 2 — the house bench (Argos Translate)
For documents and longer text, the house keeps Argos Translate — fully offline, on the house machines, the Translate Desk's tool. It is for pasted or filed text translated at reading pace at home, where a result can be looked at and re-run. It has no microphone routine and no place in a live conversation — that is Lane 1's job. Text translated on the bench does not leave the house machines.
Honest limits, printed
Offline packs cover fewer languages and plainer sentences than online modes. Fewer languages are offered for download at all, and idioms and tangled sentences come out flatter offline. Short, plain sentences are how this lane works best.
Quality is DRAFT-grade — machine translation is a draft, a human reviewer's pass is what makes it checked. That is the house graduation rule: output starts at DRAFT, and only a named human speaker reviewing it raises it to CHECKED.
Medical and legal conversations need a human interpreter, not this packet. Symptoms, consent, contracts, money terms, anything signed or sworn — get a qualified human interpreter.
It hears accents and noise imperfectly. A loud room or soft voice produces confident-looking wrong text. Checking what it heard is the guard.
Privacy, printed
With offline packs downloaded, conversation mode sends nothing anywhere — that is the point of the lane. Recognition and translation happen on the phone, from the downloaded packs, and the lane works in Airplane mode. If a mode demands a connection, treat it as online and choose knowingly: some modes and languages are online-only, and what you say or type will leave the phone to be translated. Decide that on purpose, per conversation — when in doubt, go back to the downloaded English ↔ Spanish conversation lane.
Pocket phrasebook
SAMPLE phrasebook — everyday phrases only. Tap a card to view its Spanish pairing; tap again to hide it. Fixed phrases for the moments when a card is faster than a microphone. Simple, standard translations only — this is a sample, not a dictionary.
33 phrase cards — each English phrase has exactly one Spanish pairing.