Ectaco UT is an excellently useful gadget. It enables people to use foreign languages they might not speak that well.

There are several ways to aid communication between speakers of different languages.

First of all, you can learn the language. You take up a course or two, buy yourself some thick dictionaries and audio tapes, watch and listen to foreign programs, read books and practice your oral skills, and just in a couple of years and you will be able to tell a few things about yourself and ask what time it is.

Or you can save up some money and hire a person already in possession of the necessary skills. That would be an interpreter, one of those who know several languages and provide oral translation services.

And there is another way called Ectaco Universal Translator. It’s a pocket-size device that operates on several batteries. All you need to do is voice whatever you are going to say, push the button, wait for it to process the info and listen to the translation. You can then just repeat the expression. It spares you the time you’d spend searching through a phrasebook and allows to avoid horrendous mispronunciation.