A report published in the Times Online highlights an ambitious plan of Google Inc to develop mobile phone software that is capable of translating foreign languages without the need of any human intervention.
The feature would be near real time translation and would build on some of Google’s other technologies and platforms including voice recognition software and automatic text translation. If successful and everything went according to plan, the new features would be made available in a few years.
This would also mark the first time that the world’s population that speaks some 6,000 different languages would be able to communicate directly with one another without the need of any intermediary. To make a geek reference, doesn’t this sound a bit like the origins of Star Treks Universal Translator?
The reason why the new Google service would be on the fly translation (near real time) as opposed to real time translation is because the software package would analyze word clusters as opposed to individual words. This would of course improve translation and ensure that the translation was in the correct context.
There will be many challenges in this new endeavor, one of the biggest being the accuracy of the voice translation. Imagine the problem at hand as subtle differences in dialect, tone as well as native accent will need to be accounted for. However, the new software may feature an AI (artificial intelligence) component that will allow the program to adapt and learn as it interacts with its mobile operator. The idea of adding AI to software is not as far fetched as it sounds, Siri already has developed an Apple iPhone “do engine” application that has an AI component.
Via: ZDNet
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