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Google is working on software which will bring instant translation capabilities to mobile phones.
Which will certainly be very handy when you’re abroad, say in France, and you’re not sure what a creme d’oeuf is. (It’s an egg custard).
The application will use voice recognition technology to translate whatever is spoken into it, covering all major languages, and more importantly, attempting to cope with regional accents.
It all sounds rather far-fetched, but of course Google already has a translation system in place on its site, and voice recognition on mobiles.
Combining the two isn’t something that’s going to happen tomorrow, mind you. The search giant reckons it will be a few years before we see the translation system on our mobiles.
Until then, we’ll have to make do with talking slightly louder and slower in English, and doing a lot of pointing.
Editors note - New Scientist contains a fun report on just how confused Google’s voice recognition can be:
Keeping Cats in the Loop
Maybe not so good news on the translation effort. :)
I wish Google well but, as a linguist, I’m not convinced that they are aware of the enormity of the task that faces them.
I advocate a non-technological solution, i.e. wider use of the planned international language Esperanto. At least we know it works.