If trying to order dinner or find your hotel abroad fills you with fear due to your abysmal* grasp of foreign languages, don’t panic.

    A new in-ear gadget claims to be able to translate speech like the Babel Fish in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” or the Universal Translator gadget in “Star Trek.”

    The system, dubbed the Pilot, will cost US$249 and go on sale later this year.

    It uses two earpieces, one worn by each person in the conversation.

    It is claimed to be the first smart earpiece capable of translating between two languages, and was shown off at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

    The company behind the technology, Waverly Labs, said: “This little wearable uses translation technology to allow two people to speak different languages but still clearly understand each other.”

    It will support five languages: English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, with other being added as upgrades at a later date.

    If someone does not wish to wear the second earpiece, you can use the smartphone app which is included as the app can be used on speaker mode, the firm says.

    It all occurs simultaneously* without interruption, as each person speaks to one another.

    The firm said the first generation does not translate everything happening around you. “It only translates with people who also have the Pilot earpiece, but future generations will be developed to translate everything around you.”

    It is designed to work offline so it won’t incur data charges when used overseas.

    The New York-based company behind the Pilot said both wireless earpieces can be used by one person for listening to music.

    (SD-Agencies)