Despite having grown up in Southern California, my command of the Spanish language is pitiful. I try. My Mexican friends laugh at me. Then I try again. Given the fact that so many of my fellow Southern Californians speak Spanish exclusively, I really have no excuse. Nevertheless, where I should be Indiana Jones, I’m more like Marcus Brody.

As a result, I’m always on the lookout for a good translating application. You can imagine my surprise when I recently discovered that my new favorite translation app doesn’t come from Google but instead Microsoft. The new Microsoft Translator for iOS is aces.

It is easy to use. You can input text via keyboard or dictation. Then the app speaks the text out oud in the language of your choice or prints it across the screen. They even have a nifty Apple watch application that I’ve used to communicate with Spanish speakers and it works. It’s a free application and if you spend any time trying to communicate in other languages, this can make a huge difference for you. I’m liking this new Microsoft.