Category Archives: Translation Tools

Toshiba develops voice translation software for mobile phones

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on January 11, 2010 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation News, Translation Tools

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Instant voice translation has long been the stuff of science fiction and a much desired ability in the real world. People who frequently travel to foreign countries where they do not understand the local language would be delighted by a gadget that could instantly translate what they say in their native language into the local language of the foreign country to which they are traveling.

Many individual inventors and companies have been working on developing such a software. We’ve already got a few which are available for desktop computers. Although these devices work on a simple level that is, for basic phrases, they do indicate that we are closer to developing a full-fledged instant voice translation software now than ever before. There are a few companies that have been working on developing voice translation software for mobile devices which makes sense, since such a device would provide maximum utility in its mobile form.

Toshiba for one has already developed such a software which in its present version can allow the user to translate between English, Japanese and Chinese, and has a database of 30,000 words for every one of these languages. The company will be introducing this software on their smartphone - TG01 and is aiming to sell to tourists who travel to foreign countries. The company claims that the software is extremely user-friendly and all it requires from its users is that they speak into phone in any of the aforementioned languages following which the handset would process it and translate it into the desired language. The company intends to release the software in the present year itself.

Theatre visitors at London’s West End get a handheld translation device

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on December 23, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation News, Translation Tools

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London’s theatre shows are quite popular among foreign tourists which is reflected by the fact that nearly a third of the tickets sold are purchased by this group of people. Earlier tourists who did not understand the language being spoken on the stage had to check out the screens beside the stage for the required translation. Not anymore, thanks to AirScript, a new device that displays a rolling translation of the show’s script in the language selected by the viewer.

AirScript is a wireless handheld screen developed and manufactured by the Cambridge Consultants in UK. It can display several languages simultaneously. At present, it has been made available at the Shaftesbury Theatre which is playing Hairspray. The options of languages available at present include English, Italian, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese. There is a system of stage prompts to ensure that the translated version of the script is in sync with the on-stage action.

The man behind this device Alexander Vegh got the idea for such a device about 20 years back when he saw Cats on Broadway. Being a Spanish speaker he felt that what could have been a much better experience was limited by the fact that he could not understand the lyrics. In 2002, he moved to London from his native Argentina and established a translation services company which was a success. He then moved on to developing AirScript, the results of which can now be seen at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

iLingual – Language translation with a smile

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on December 16, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation Tools

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There are so many language translation apps for the iPhone so why should one consider yet another new one? Well, one can certainly consider iLingual which executes its translations in a somewhat comic manner. iLingual comes with a library of 400 phrases in Spanish, German, French and Arabic. What makes it unique is its ability to sound out translations through the lips of the user! Well almost. The user can take a picture of his/her lips with the iPhone and then select the same in iLingual. After that whenever the app is used to provide translation of a pre-selected phrase, it is spoken out through the animated picture of the lips on the big and clear screen of the iPhone.

Although iLingual does not have much to go for when weighed against more serious and substantial language translation apps that are already available in the app store, what steals the deal is the comic touch provided by the app which can help break the ice in a foreign land – imagine yourself traveling in a country whose language you do not know and you need to get some information from a local resident; you can approach a friendly native, select a phrase in iLingual that is relevant to your question, put it in front of your mouth and let the app do its job. It would appear weird and funny and most probably help put the native at ease. Moreover, iLingual is free so it doesn’t hurt your pocket either.

nFluent – The language translation project at IBM

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on December 14, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation News, Translation Tools

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IBM has a team of almost 100 employees working on the development of an automatic language translation tool that would be quick, as well as highly accurate to the extent that it would facilitate instant messages between the speakers of two distinct languages. The project is nFluent and at present it is being developed with the intention of teaching computer terminology related to the businesses of IBM. The programmers working on the nFluent project are trying to get a computer to look for and identify statistical patterns that exist between sets of translated content, as well as those which exist among the words.

The company has encouraged its 400,000 work force across over 170 countries to contribute to nFluent. It began by presenting its employees with a worldwide translation challenge in which each employee’s contribution would be measured with the help of a points-based system and the points earned would later be converted to charitable donations. The process involves employees correcting translations produced by nFluent. The challenge mobilized around 6,000 employees to suggest improvements in over 2 million words worth of data for 11 languages that was translated by nFluent. According to an IBM researcher, the parallel data produced by the employees is used to update the models. Until now nFluent has only been used by the employees of IBM, but looking into the future, the company intends to create a finished product that can be sold to other organizations.

A new optical device for real time translation

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on November 19, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation Tools

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Yet another gadget right from the pages of science fiction! NEC, the Japanese electronics giant has developed a prototype for a new gadget that will help people overcome communication barriers posed by difference in languages. The optical device which is shaped like a pair of glasses will provide instant real-time language translation. Users are supposed to wear the gadget and then when they speak with someone whose language they don’t understand, the device would project translations directly onto their retina.

The gadget is called Tele Scouter, its prototype contains a microphone and retinal display mounted on an eyeglass frame. It will be using voice recognition and translation programs along with an imaging device to create real time translation which its users can read just like the subtitles of a movie. In a situation where both speakers are not able to understand each other’s languages they would both need to wear Tele Scouter to facilitate easy conversation.

Takayuki Omino a market development official with NEC said that Tele Scouter could prove handy in conversations that involve confidential information as it would eliminate the requirement of a human translator. The company intends to make the device available in the market by 2011 and has projected that a set of 30 Tele Scouters could cost a company up to 7.5 million yen or $83,300. The cost of customized software would be extra.

Portable dictionary and language translation app

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on November 13, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation Tools

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In this age of information explosion flash drives are a boon. For starters they allowed people to carry large volumes of data thus enabling them to work with the same in any PC. Then came portable applications which further liberated one from the requirement of working on the same PC to get the benefit of preferred settings. Nowadays we can get portable versions of most commonly used applications which can be saved to and then used directly from flash drives. In a way, this combination of flash drive and portable applications allows one to carry a personal computer in one’s pocket.

There are many excellent portable applications available out there in the World Wide Web. In this post I am going to discuss the one which can serve professional language translators and writers very well. The application is Lingoes - it’s a free dictionary and multi-language translator that supports more than 60 languages. It comes pre-installed with a number of resources like Google Dictionary, Google Web Definition, WordNet Online, Essential English Dictionary and Spelling Suggestion. The dictionary can function online, as well as offline, and users can download dictionary and thesaurus packs from leaders like Collins, Merriam-Webster, Longman and Macmillan. Furthermore all these dictionaries can be managed from a single interface.

Lingoes features a cursor translator (allows the user to select a sentence or word with the cursor) that can cross-translate between 23 languages. It can also be configured to select a native language to which the program then translates the meanings of foreign words. Lingoes also allows the installation of Natural Voice Packages from Webster and Longman. The program has many other useful features including one touch access to the more 3.5 million articles in Wikipedia. For more details check it out here.

WikiReader – The global encyclopedia in your palm

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on November 11, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation Tools

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This review does not directly relate to language translation as other posts on this blog do, but this is something that I just had to share with you dear readers, and moreover, I believe that most of you would really be interested in knowing and then maybe getting for yourself this simple and handy device called WikiReader.

In a nutshell, WikiReader is the frequently relied upon Wikipedia in your palm. The most ironical thing about this device is that although it carries the information present in one of the most popular websites of the world, it does not need to be connected to the Internet. It also comes as a surprise in this age when all our frequently used electronic devices and gadgets have got the ability to connect to the internet. But for me that’s the charm of Openmoko’s WikiReader, a Wikipedia browser, which in its present avatar carries all of the 3 million Wikipedia articles in a memory card.

WikiReader features a simple bare bones interface which can be played upon through its scratch resistant capacitative touchscreen. It has a power button which can fire up the device within a couple of seconds, a button for searching specific articles, one for looking through history and a final one which brings up random articles. Only the text of the articles is displayed, there are no images, links to external web pages, discussions or references. The device also has a feature for blocking mature content, which would be helpful to parents who’d like to gift the WikiReader to their kids but would not want them to access all kinds of articles.

Since the device cannot access the internet, Openmoko would be releasing updates on a quarterly basis which can either be downloaded for free or purchased through new memory cards shipped twice a year for an annual fee of $29. The device itself costs $99. Although its great to have a device which is dedicated to one purpose and delivers well, I felt that an integrated dictionary/thesaurus and automatic language translation abilities would’ve been welcome additions.

The App Store offers a new bidirectional speech translator

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on November 9, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation Tools

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As a kid I used to be quite fascinated by all those fantastical gadgets that were flaunted in science fiction movies or television shows. One such gadget was the language translator that used to translate speech from one language to another thus allowing people who were not conversant in each other’s languages to have effortless conversations. In the past few decades the world has seen many gadgets of science fiction making their transition to reality, and it was just a matter of time before such a language translator made an entry.

Jibbingo is the name of a new bidirectional speech translator which is now available in Apple’s App Store. It is priced at $24.99 and can be used in the iPhone, as well as the iPod touch. Jibbingo can translate speech between two languages enabling people who do not share the same language to understand each other through conversations (limited ones though). And all this can be achieved without having to fiddle much with the settings or tapping too many onscreen buttons.

At present Jibbingo functions on a vocabulary of 40,000 words, most of which have been selected based on their frequent usage by travelers and doctors. However one requires an iPhone 3Gs to utilize the Jibbingo’s full potential. For other devices one would have to be satisfied with unidirectional translation. Overall it’s just the kind of language translation gadget that many people around the world were waiting for – not only is it simple and intuitive but also does a pretty decent job of recognizing speech and translating it accurately. There is plenty of scope for improvement – a larger vocabulary and list of supported language being foremost but as a starter it’s a great app.

Apimac introduces translation dictionaries for iPhone and iPod

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on November 5, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation Tools

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iPhone and iPod Touch users who are still looking for a good language translation app might just have a pleasant surprise coming at them. iPhone and iPod touch has got a new line of translation dictionaries from Apimac, the company which has already developed award-winning software for the Mac, including a series of very popular translation dictionaries.

The dictionary apps for iPhone/iPod are available in English - German, English – Italian, and English - Spanish. Each comes with all the tools required for searching words, as well as phrases in an up-to-date dictionary that also includes grammatical notes, as well as a phrase book with thousands of English phrases and their translations.

These language translation dictionaries include other features like a business dictionary that help users while composing business letters, sending e-mails, and even in making professional phone calls. The dictionaries are designed in a very user friendly manner and guide the user to find useful information rather than unhelpful or useless stuff. Most of the information used by the app is stored locally in the iPhone or iPod, hence an internet connection is not required to make it work. An internet connection is only required when the user needs to do online translation or reference/image search.

Apimac’s language translation apps are compatible with the iPhone firmware v2.2.1 or higher and are available for $3 at the App Store.

Yet another innovative iPhone translation app

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on October 29, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Translation Tools

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Fotozio, LLC has launched a free iPhone photo translator application called PicTranslator. Although there are now many reasonable to good quality language translation apps for the iPhone available from the iTunes Store, PicTranslator is different as it uses the iPhone camera and turns it into a point-and-shoot translator. Options available to users at present include thumbing through phrasebooks or translation apps that require typing in foreign language phrases in order to get a translation. PicTranslator with its innovative approach has all the trappings of turning into a must-have application for frequent travelers which they can use to readily translate maps, road signs, menus, and the like.

The fact that PicTranslator is very easy to use is an added benefit. All one needs to do is launch the application to take a picture of the text that is required to be translated. Thereafter the image might require some cropping so that the text is placed within the given parameters before hitting the translate button. The image is then sent off to be translated which can take some time during which PicTranslator throws up interesting trivia about the area. In order to get accurate results one needs to ensure a clear picture of the text, for if it is blurry or taken at an angle or say, strong light is reflecting on it then the translation might not be accurate.

Free version of PicTranslator includes one langauge chosen by the user. Other languages can be purchased as in-app purchases. Individually they are priced $ 0.99 and $1.99, while the whole bunch costs $2.99 and includes Spanish, French, German, Russian, Italian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Norwegian Swedish, Turkish, and Portuguese. Some of these languages come with audio pronunciation facility. The developers will be adding more languages in future, and of course the app would get better with more people using it.