Technabob » translate

Microsoft Universal Translator: Star Trek Gets Real

Range — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:00:25 +0000

Anyone who’s used Google Translate on a mobile device on the go has realized how close we are to getting a universal translator. While Google Translate isn’t always accurate, it does the job well enough for you to be able to get the gist of another language that you don’t speak. Now, Microsoft is trying to come up with their own software that will translate multiple languages, speaking with a synthetic version of your own voice.

Microsoft’s Universal Translator software was created by Frank Soong. It’s software that’s basically able to speak in the user’s own voice, smoothly in sentences. Right now, Microsoft’s UT speaks 26 languages but there are more to come. All you need to do is speak English into it and it will convert it into different languages, from Spanish to Mandarin. All told, it takes about an hour to train the system with your voice.

The software will be used to help students learn new languages and develop more accurate translation apps. You can hear some samples of the translated voices over at TechnologyReview, including the voice of Rick Rashid, Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer.

While no translation software is 100% accurate, it’s still pretty impressive. This is really cool technology, and with the dramatic increases in mobile device capabilities, it’s only a matter of time before they could package it into a handheld gadget, just like the one in Star Trek. (Except for the part where it can translate alien languages it’s never heard before.)

[via DVice]

Word Lens Automagically Translates and Displays Translations

Lambert Varias — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:58:09 +0000

Otavio Good and John DeWeese worked for two and a half years to produce a program that, to paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke’s famous line, is indistinguishable from magic. Good and DeWeese’s app Word Lens is a essentially an OCR (optical character recognition) program. But unlike other OCR software, Word Lens not only translate visual text but also projects the translated text in place of the original one, in real time:

Watch the magic unfold:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The app can also spell words in reverse or even erase words from a picture. As you can see, the translation isn’t perfect, but it’s way better than nothing. This single app justifies the existence of a smartphone with a camera. And it is available right this instant – you can grab Word Lens at the iTunes App Store now. The app itself is free, but the language packs cost $5 (USD) each and are in-app purchases. Currently only two language packs exist, Spanish to English and English to Spanish, but you can bet that Good and DeWeese will add more. Star Trek fans will no doubt wait for the Klingon pack.

[via TechCrunch]

Google Adds Latin Translation: Now You Can Swear in a Dead Language!

Range — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:23:52 +0000

While I did have to take Latin in 7th and 8th grade, most of it has either been stashed away deep in the recesses of my brain or forgotten. Probably the latter. However, I really like the fact that Google Translate can now translate into Latin, which is considered a dead language.

It’s probably of limited use for most of us, but I’d also like to see Ancient Greek, and other dead languages in Google Translate. It’s important to keep these languages alive in some form. Plus, you can get all these crazy swear words in Latin, and translate all those Latin sayings that you find on your dollar bills and whatnot. Maybe the kids will start using Latin again instead of the shortcodes they use in all their text messages.

You can try it out here.

[via Read Write Web]

The Wii Controller has a Little Secret

Technabob — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:00:30 +0000

The editors over at Fortune magazine were kind enough to dissect the Nintendo Wii controller recently, revealing an interesting tidbit.

In addition to all of the well known features of the controller, the Wii-mote appears to have a special chip on board which is designed for voice processing applications. According to Fortune, the so-called “Audio Translator” chip is designed to convert analog speech patterns into a digital data stream (among other things.) However, from what I can tell, it’s this chip from ROHM Electronics, which sounds more like it’s designed for voice and music output capabilities than for input. As a matter of fact, the chip is designed for use in voice guidance applications such as the speech your hear from GPS navigators.

If it is somehow usable for voice input, it’s not clear whether the internal speaker on the Wii-mote could be used as a microphone, or if the chip would require an additional input source. While it doesn’t appear that the chip is currently used by any games, I’m guessing we’ll see it used in the future.

[via GoNintendo]