{"id":384485,"date":"2010-03-03T13:30:41","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T18:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jkontherun.com\/?p=58857"},"modified":"2010-03-03T13:30:41","modified_gmt":"2010-03-03T18:30:41","slug":"your-next-smartphone-could-be-a-universal-translator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/384485","title":{"rendered":"Your Next Smartphone Could Be a Universal Translator"},"content":{"rendered":"

One the largest impacts of the Internet is the reduction of communication and geographical barriers. With the web, we’re all becoming part of a global community more than ever before, but we don’t speak the same language, so for now, we’re reliant upon translation services. One of my must-have Google Chrome extensions offers translation<\/a>, and while it works well, it’s more of point-in-time service that I use as needed with static information. On today’s real-time web, that poses a challenge — one that Microsoft is working on and showing off at its TechFest event.<\/p>\n

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This video taken by Todd Bishop of TechFlash demonstrates a prototype, real-time voice translation service<\/a>. Microsoft calls it the “Translating Telephone” but for now, it’s a demo voice over IP service used in conjunction with other Microsoft unified communications solutions. Like Google’s Voice product, Microsoft’s Exchange Server 2010 supports voicemail transcription<\/a>. But Redmond is taking things one step beyond a standard voice to text service. The prototype shows a voice to translated<\/strong> text, using a conversation between an English-speaking caller and one that speaks German. It’s not perfect just yet, but the accuracy is impressive, as is the speed of the translations which are computer-spoken.<\/p>\n

While the hardware powering smartphones of today aren’t the best tools for translation, this type of service could be implemented in a client-server setup \u00a0– the two phones used for conversation would simply provide the audio, speech and connectivity, while a communications server processes the translations and serves them up. There would of course be a delay while the speech is translated, but it could be manageable. More likely to interfere with adoption is the sound of the voice — we’ve grown accustomed to hearing the actual voice of the person we’re speaking to on the phone. Phones with translation capabilities would make the conversation less personal due to a synthesized voice, but at least we’d be able to understand one another. Besides, I see a whole new market evolving — translation service providers could sell custom voices. I think I’d spring for an Angelina Jolie voice and I probably<\/em> wouldn’t care too much if the translation wasn’t quite right.\u00a0Sprechen sie deutsche, Ms. Jolie?<\/p>\n

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