Real-time voice translation calling that preserves YOUR voice. First minute free on every call, then just 10¢/min. 80+ languages. No subscriptions, no expiring credits. Your personality and tone come through - not a robotic translation. Simple pricing, human connection.
The Banana App was born from a simple truth: language should never divide us. We were inspired by the universal symbol of the Banana - understood everywhere without translation. We saw a problem where technology created walls instead of bridges between people speaking different languages.
Our approach evolved through understanding that real voice translation needs to preserve humanity - not just convert words, but cary emotion, tone, and warmth. We realized people don' want robotic translations; they want to be truly understood.
The magic happens because we capture the essence of human speech: your laugh, your pause, your warmth. When someone speaks to you in your language bt hears them in theirs, it's not just a translation it's connection restored.
We built this believing hat when people truly hear each other as equals, not as outsiders, empathy grows. The Banana App is proof that technology can restore something ancient: the ability to simply understand one another across any language barrier.
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Preserving the speaker's actual voice, tone, and emotion during real-time translation is the crucial detail that separates this from robotic translation — a call where you hear a synthetic voice immediately feels impersonal no matter how accurate the words are. The pay-per-minute model with no subscription is perfect for travelers who need it sporadically. How noticeable is the latency during a live conversation when translating between structurally different language pairs like English and Japanese?
@svyat_dvoretski Latency between structurally different pairs like English and Japanese is real, and I won't sugarcoat it. There's a short buffer to account for sentence structure differences (1-2s), since Japanese puts the verb at the end. It's noticeable but not conversation-breaking. Our translation works best for longer conversations over shorter ones. We're actively working to tighten that gap. If you want to test it, the first minute is free on every call so you can get a feel for it yourself!
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The pay per minute model is really smart, way better than yet another subscription for something you might only use when traveling. Preserving the actual voice tone is what makes this feel like a real conversation instead of talking through a robot. Curious, does it work well in noisy environments like airports or crowded streets?
@borrellr_ Great question! Noisy environments are actually one of the trickier challenges we tested for. Airports and busy streets work surprisingly well, but the more difficult environment is around colleagues, friends and family when they are speaking over you 😅 But having said that, its still a challenge to isolate the main voice from the background, its best with earbuds with a decent mic. We're continuing to improve noise handling, and it's high on our roadmap. Would love to hear how it holds up for you when you try it!
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This concept is so cool because in 2026, it is finally time to stop having the generic robot voice do the translating for us! This will definitely be a game changer for travelers. Curious, how many languages is the app able to translate as of today's release? Is dialect or heavy accent a problem point? Looking forward to trying this out at our next large family gathering!
@longtermemory Banana app is not about just translations, its about real-time conversations and voice preservation that can deliver the message, no matter what language you speak
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@sam_ameer great! thanks. Very interesting the voice preservation feature. Which ai model do you use (if so)?
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This is really cool! Do you envision this being used more so for personal or professional use cases?
@leah_dyke We have seen this being used mostly for personal calls, I would be lying if I said people haven't asked on how they can use for Grab/GoJek (these are Uber/DoorDash equivalents) calls in SEA - so that business angle is quite open too
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The detail that stood out to me is preserving the actual voice, tone, and emotion during translation.
Quick question for the makers: How does it handle the natural flow of conversation, like interruptions or talking over each other? That’s where most real-time translation apps fall apart. Really curious.
The Banana App
Preserving the speaker's actual voice, tone, and emotion during real-time translation is the crucial detail that separates this from robotic translation — a call where you hear a synthetic voice immediately feels impersonal no matter how accurate the words are. The pay-per-minute model with no subscription is perfect for travelers who need it sporadically. How noticeable is the latency during a live conversation when translating between structurally different language pairs like English and Japanese?
The Banana App
@svyat_dvoretski Latency between structurally different pairs like English and Japanese is real, and I won't sugarcoat it. There's a short buffer to account for sentence structure differences (1-2s), since Japanese puts the verb at the end. It's noticeable but not conversation-breaking. Our translation works best for longer conversations over shorter ones. We're actively working to tighten that gap. If you want to test it, the first minute is free on every call so you can get a feel for it yourself!
The pay per minute model is really smart, way better than yet another subscription for something you might only use when traveling. Preserving the actual voice tone is what makes this feel like a real conversation instead of talking through a robot. Curious, does it work well in noisy environments like airports or crowded streets?
The Banana App
@borrellr_ Great question! Noisy environments are actually one of the trickier challenges we tested for. Airports and busy streets work surprisingly well, but the more difficult environment is around colleagues, friends and family when they are speaking over you 😅 But having said that, its still a challenge to isolate the main voice from the background, its best with earbuds with a decent mic. We're continuing to improve noise handling, and it's high on our roadmap. Would love to hear how it holds up for you when you try it!
This concept is so cool because in 2026, it is finally time to stop having the generic robot voice do the translating for us! This will definitely be a game changer for travelers. Curious, how many languages is the app able to translate as of today's release? Is dialect or heavy accent a problem point? Looking forward to trying this out at our next large family gathering!
The Banana App
@jasmin_haffees Thank you Jasmin, do give it a shot and let me know. As of today we have full support for 30+ languages and ~70 including dialects
could you tell me some use case beyond translations?
The Banana App
@longtermemory Banana app is not about just translations, its about real-time conversations and voice preservation that can deliver the message, no matter what language you speak
@sam_ameer great! thanks. Very interesting the voice preservation feature. Which ai model do you use (if so)?
This is really cool! Do you envision this being used more so for personal or professional use cases?
The Banana App
@leah_dyke We have seen this being used mostly for personal calls, I would be lying if I said people haven't asked on how they can use for Grab/GoJek (these are Uber/DoorDash equivalents) calls in SEA - so that business angle is quite open too
The detail that stood out to me is preserving the actual voice, tone, and emotion during translation.
Quick question for the makers: How does it handle the natural flow of conversation, like interruptions or talking over each other? That’s where most real-time translation apps fall apart. Really curious.
The Banana App
@ipearl A speech indistinguishable from human is what we aim to achieve, but I got to admit we ain't there 100% yet