[2024 Top Picks] Start 2024 off right by downloading these essential apps

Papago, an AI-powered translation app from Naver, excels when translating Asian languages, and is a must-have app for travelers to the continent.

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On the go? Be sure to bring Papago. Most travelers, when touring a foreign country, immediately turn to Google Translate for help. But if you're visiting Asia, Papago is the go-to translation app that will help you survive your trip.

Papago is developed by Naver, which means it has access to vast amounts of data on the Korean language. But Korea's largest portal site has subsidiaries in many other countries as well, and also has a competitive advantage in Japanese, French, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, French and English.

AI translation has made quite a bit of progress in recent years, but not all translators can convey nuanced meaning well. Among its competitors, Papago is particularly good at deciphering restaurant menus — which is, let's face it, one of the most crucial parts of traveling. Even though you’re wet, cold, sweltering, or just downright miserable, quality gruel can get you up and about as good as new.

Papago translates menus quite authentically. I used Google to translate a Korean menu at a budae jjigae restaurant and found that the app could not properly identify certain dishes. For example, it referred to the establishment's “old-fashioned assortment set” as “old taste bag set.”

Papago, by contrast, was able to translate a Budae jjigae set menu correctly “a set of beef samgyeopsal.” Google Translate went for “beef samgyeop bag set.”

Google Translate is, admittedly, the more versatile of the two apps, as it can interpret 108 languages while Papago users are limited to 13. But I have found Papago a better choice for traveling in Asian countries. I had no problem utilizing it on trips to Japan's Osaka and Fukuoka last year.

Too many AIs? Try Wrtn. In this era of oh-so many apps and generative AI models — each of which, its developers insist, is the best on the market — users may be unsure which service is most appropriate for their needs.

Wrtn, a service that recommends the most suitable AI model for any given use case, may be the solution to this problem. I came upon this app from by recommendation and found it truly eye-opening. Rather than flaunting its AI technology, as many of its competing startups have on their rises to stardom, it simply conveys useful information to its users.

For instance, if you ask Wrtn’s AI chatbot to recommend a translation service to interpret an English thesis paper, the chatbot recommends DeepL. If you want to edit photos, the chatbot recommends various apps and software that you can download. It even offers step-by-step instructions for how to set up its recommended programs based on the details of your request.

Wrtn also compiles a daily news report for you to read based on your self-reported interests, as well as demographic factors like your age and gender.

It’s the perfect app to use in an age where many people don't know which of countless AI models around the world is best for them.

Regrettably, Wrtn is only available in Korean as of now. But here's a sliver lining for international users: Wrtn is planning to expand overseas next year to Japan, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]