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Translation gadgets in 2020 are nearly as good as Babel Fish
Hundreds of thousands of attendees from every corner of the globe descended upon Las Vegas last week to see the latest and greatest in consumer technology trends. However, with so many people from so many places in a single space, language barriers can be an issue. Thankfully myriad companies were onsite with their own tech-based solutions to address these communication breakdowns. We were able to check out a few and see which are best placed to become the babel fish we were promised.
Facebook Messenger will begin translating English to Spanish soon
Messenger's built-in AI is getting a new trick. The M digital assistant will suggest translating a message to your native language if you get a message via Marketplace in a different tongue. It'll start with English to Spanish and roll out to users in the US over the next few weeks. Other languages and availability will come online later. This could make offloading that spare couch of yours a lot easier in the future -- especially if you're trying to communicate with a buyer while you're on the go.
Microsoft's AI-powered offline translation now runs on any phone
Like many translation apps, Microsoft Translator has only used AI to decipher phrases while you have an internet connection. That's not much help if you're on a vacation in a place where mobile data is just a distant memory. Well, you won't have to sacrifice quality for much longer -- Microsoft has released offline language packs for Translator (currently on Android, iOS and Amazon Fire devices) that use AI for translation when you're offline regardless of your hardware. The move not only provides higher quality translations, but shrinks the size of the language packs by half. If you're a jetsetter, you might not have to shuffle language packs whenever you visit a new country.
Microsoft Translator turns your words into spoken Japanese
You may want to install Microsoft Translator if you're going to Japan and your vocabulary is limited to "Konnichiwa," "Ohayou" and "Notice me senpai." The app can now turn your spoken words into Nihongo to help you get around the country. Translator can recognize a bevy of languages, but Japanese is only the 10th language its speech translation feature supports. That's right -- it now reads the resulting Japanese words or phrases out loud to make it possible to hold almost real-time conversations with native speakers. The other nine languages in the list are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Cortana's international versions get instant translations
The French-, German-, Italian- and Spanish-speaking versions of Microsoft's voice assistant Cortana are now much better travel companions. Just like their English- and Chinese-speaking counterparts, these versions can now instantly translate words and phrases into other languages, so long as you're running Windows 10. For instance, you can ask it for help by saying "Hey Cortana, translate where is the toilet in Japanese" in any of the four languages above, and it will quickly respond with the result.
Microsoft beats Google to offline translation on iOS
Microsoft updated its Translator app to support offline translation on Android back in February, and it's just added the same feature to the iOS version. Like the Android app, the translation works by way of deep learning. Behind the scenes a neural network, trained on millions of phrases, does the heavy lifting, and the translations are claimed to be of "comparable" quality to online samples. Your mileage will apparently "vary by language and topic," but even an adequate translation is probably worth it when you're saving on data costs abroad.
Xerox adds instant translator feature to some of its printers
Look, we all know Xerox doesn't make the most exciting products, but its new Easy Translator Service is pretty cool. So long as you have one of its ConnectKey-enabled multifunction printers, you don't even have to type out the text you want to translate. Just scan the original document, and the machine will instantly print it out in the language you choose among the 40 37 available.
Microsoft Translator gets offline and photo-based features
Microsoft rolled out a pair of super-useful updates to its Translator app on Thursday. Unfortunately, the new feature you get depends on which platform you use.
Skype Translator is rolling out to all desktop users
After a preview offered access to Skype's live translation tool on the desktop earlier this summer, the feature is rolling out to all users. If you're in need of a quick refresher, Skype Translator converts video calls in English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin and Spanish and 50 messaging languages inside the Windows app. The company says that the software leverages machine learning, so it'll only get better as more people use it. In fact, folks who signed up for the preview have already pitched in there. When the tool arrives, you'll notice a new translator icon in Skype that'll let you know it's ready to go to work.
Skype Translator is heading to the desktop app this summer
Last month, Microsoft removed the sign-up requirement for folks to give Skype's live translation chops a try. Now, a preview version of the multi-language tool is heading to the desktop. Skype Translator is scheduled to roll out inside the chat-focused app's desktop software at the end of the summer, delivering real-time translation for voice/video calls and instant messaging. Right now, the speech function supports English, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin, but if you're conversing via IM, there are 50 more languages added to the list. Windows 10 arrives at this summer too, and real-time translating is sure to come in handy when chatting it up on a 84-inch Surface Hub.
Google moves one step closer to becoming a universal translator
Even with the assistance of modern technology, holding a conversation in two different languages can be difficult. Google Translate allows you to speak with someone and have each utterance translated as text and audio, but until now you had to manually toggle every time the other person talked. As expected, Google is speeding up the process with smarter language recognition and speaker switching, which comes as part of a new update. So when you boot up the app and press the microphone icon, it'll recognise which of the two languages is being spoken, offer a translation and then automatically alternate whenever the conversation flips over. No more tapping on the screen again and again.
Google's translation app will soon turn speech into text on the fly
Converting unfamiliar speech to text in Google Translate is currently an awkward affair: you have to start a recording and wait until a moment after you're done to find out what the other person said. That's not exactly living up to the dream of a Star Trek-like universal translator, folks. However, the New York Times understands that Translate is about to get considerably smarter. Reportedly, an updated version of the mobile app (coming "soon") will automatically detect speech and translate it right away. All you'd really have to do is hold your phone up with the app running -- important if you'd rather not go through a song-and-dance routine just to find out where the washrooms are.
Lingopal 44 is your own personal foreign language guidebook
Lingopal 44 is a language translation app that acts as a travel companion. Rather than just automatically translate any words or phrases you type in the app, it provides a lengthy, categorized list of common words and phrases to listen to and use on demand. Lingopal 44 supports - you guessed it - 44 different languages around the world and includes dozens of categories for communication. The app is free for iOS with in-app purchases and requires iOS 7.1 or later. Typical translation apps and services have you type in any sentence you need to learn in a foreign language, but Lingopal 44 takes a different approach, one that's arguably better or worse in various circumstances. It acts as more of a digital guidebook. It comes without a label, but upon first launch the app is asking you to choose your native language, followed by your sex, then the foreign language you want to use to boot. It also asks you if you want to enable some content for ages 17 and up. For free, Lingopal 44 includes the Essentials category and if you choose to view the aforementioned mature content, you also get the Flirting category. I thought this was a little odd. Of all categories to include at the get-go, flirting is really a top priority? Not the categories for directions, traveling or even numbers? Okay then. The other categories range from Days & Time to Dining to Making Conversation to Business Talk. If you were skeptical about this app lacking categories or phrases to say just because it's preloaded, fear not. The amount of content is here is truly plentiful enough to get by. If you choose to allow the mature content, the app includes the main Flirting category plus eight other subcategories for flirting, a gay category (which is basically just same-sex flirting,) and X-rated insults, vulgar yet hilarious. However, the first "Flirting" is still the only one available for free. Each category comes with plenty of relevant phrases. Tap one to view the translation in your selected language, which is adjustable in the Settings tab. Additionally, use the buttons underneath to view the translation in full-screen mode, play a recording, turn on repeat to continuously play the recording or save the translation to your favorites. If you're having trouble finding what you need or browsing through categories and lists is becoming tedious, Lingopal 44 comes with a Search tab to filter down what you're trying to say by keyword. Without paying anything, the app won't get you very far. An in-app purchase is necessary to unlock the rest of the categories and phrases, either per language or for all languages. Each language pack is US$0.99, but for a limited time (until Jan. 30, 2015) unlocking all languages is only $0.99, down from the normal rate of $9.99. If you're interested in downloading Lingopal 44, now is a good time. The app lacks a bit in the areas of design and stability. In fact, it crashed on me multiple times during my time of review. Plus, I'm not sure if having this preloaded guidebook for languages offers any practical benefit over just using a translator and typing in what you want to say. Perhaps this might be better for learning and memorizing foreign languages as opposed to on the fly translation. Either way, the choice is yours. Especially now with the in-app purchase sale, Lingopal is a solid tool for travel and translation. It's free for iPhone and iPad in the App Store.
Skype's Translator preview sign-ups go live for Windows 8.1 users
We first heard about Skype's Translator feature back in May, and that it should arrive before the end of the year. Well, in keeping with that timeline, the video-chatting outfit opened up a preview for Windows 8.1 devices. As its moniker suggests, the new feature converts speech in real-time, to keep the lines of communication open without the need for a third person to do the translating. It also shows an on-screen transcript during calls and can sort IM translation in 45 languages. If you're wielding a computer or tablet that's running the aforementioned OS, head over to the source link to opt in to the preview ahead of the new tool's official arrival.
Microsoft says 'shwmae' to the Welsh language
If you've ever struggled to understand what Cymru am byth means, you'll have found that few web translators are prepared to help you out. That's changed now, thanks to a deal between Microsoft and the Welsh Assembly, which teamed up to bring the language to Office, Bing and the Windows and Windows Phone translator apps. The country's national body passed a law back in 2012 requiring public bodies to treat both English and Welsh equally, but didn't have the tech necessary to ensure all employees had access to translation gear. Both parties are keen to stress that, despite the official involvement, it's just as (un)reliable as translators for other languages, but hey, at least one or two kids might avoid our childhood fate of having gau'r drws barked us by an annoyed Grandmother and not knowing what the hell it meant.
Klingons to invade Bing translator, bIjeghbe'chugh vaj bIHegh!
Though some may look down on Star Trek's fictional Klingon language and invoke the infamous phrase uttered by William Shatner -- "Get a life!" -- Microsoft's Bing translation team doesn't see it that way at all. As part of a marketing join-up with Paramount Pictures, the service will be offering translation of the fictional tongue to and from its other 41 languages to support the release of Star Trek Into Darkness. According to the LA Times, the translator was developed with the aid of Klingon-fluent Microsoft engineer Eric Andeen, who said that it's as much about the passion for linguistics as for Star Trek. Originally developed by a language specialist based on a few words ad-libbed in Star Trek: The Motion Picture by 'Scotty' actor James Doohan, Klingon has taken on a life of its own thanks to fans and sites who developed full dictionaries and on-line translators. The Bing project will fire up later today, so why not check it out at the More Coverage link? After all, ghojmeH ta'vaD He tu'be'lu'!
NTT DoCoMo translation app converts languages in real time (hands-on video)
Last year at CEATEC, we saw NTT DoCoMo demo its translation app, which made life easier by translating a Japanese menu into English text. This time around the carrier is showing off the new Hanashite Hon'yaku service for Android devices, which can translate spoken Japanese to English and vice versa (it supports a total of 10 languages, including French, German and Korean). In addition to providing an on-screen translation, the system reads out your speaking partner's words in your language.To use the service, you need an Android-enabled (2.2 and higher) device running on either the carrier's spumode or moperaU plan. Provided you fit those requirements, you'll simply have to dial the other party, speak into the phone and wait for it to play back your words in a foreign tongue. Of course, you can also use the service in person, which is exactly what we did at DoCoMo's booth. When we gave it a test run with some simple questions ("Where are you from?", "What time is it?"), the app had no trouble spitting back those phrases in Japanese so the DoCoMo rep could respond. When he answered in Japanese, the translation to English was equally seamless, taking just a second or two to communicate that he is from Japan. Though the app is free, you'll have to pay call and data charges (using the service for face-to-face conversation only entails a data fee). The cross-cultural barriers will break down starting November 1st, but you can get a glimpse of the service in action just after the break.
NTT DoCoMo preps automatic translation from Japanese through Android, leaves no one an island
Japan's unique language makes calls to other countries a challenge: locals often don't have much choice but to brush up on someone else's language or hope there's a Japanese speaker on the other end of the line. If all goes well with NTT DoCoMo's planned Hanashite Hon'yaku automatic translation service, international calls will be as comfortable as phoning a store in Nagano. As long as a subscriber has at least an Android 2.2 phone or tablet on the carrier's moperaU or sp-mode plans, the service will automatically convert spoken Japanese to another language, and reverse the process for the reply, whether it's through an outbound phone call or an in-person conversation. The service will bridge cultures starting from November 1st, when it will translate from Japanese to Chinese, English or Korean. Indonesian, Thai and five European languages are coming later that month. If you're not that patient, NTT DoCoMo will provide a holdover on October 11th through Utsushite Hon'yaku, a free Word Lens-like augmented reality translator for Android 2.3 that can convert text to or from Japanese with a glance through a phone camera.
NTT DoCoMo launches free Concier mail translation app for Android devices
Not content to simply dabble in double-sided transparent touchscreens, Japanese mobile provider NTT DoCoMo continues its efforts to break the language barrier -- this time with a new Android app. "Mail Honyaku Concier" (honyaku means "translation" in Nihongo, while that last word is a play on "concierge") is a free app that lets users translate text into different languages. The software is compatible with smartphones and tablets sporting Android 2.2 or higher and accepts both keyboard and voice input for text. As part of its translation, the app sends a copy of the source material in its original language -- you know, just in case the thing does a Sheldon Cooper and coughs up "Oxen are in my bed." In addition to working with NTT DoCoMo's "sp Mode Mail" service, the software also plays nice with other apps. Languages supported so far are Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. As with any translator, you might want to use this with caution when dealing with important people -- like potential business clients or fathers-in-law, for example.
Sign language translator turns gestures into spoken letters, makes for a better world (video)
By far one of the greatest challenges of sign language has been to translate it for everyday folk that wouldn't know where to begin a conversation with the deaf. Cornell University engineering students Ranjay Krishna, Seonwoo Lee and Si Ping Wang -- along with some help from Jonathan Lang -- used their final project time this past semester to close this gap in one of the more practical solutions we've seen to date. Their prototype glove uses accelerometers, contact sensors and flex sensors to translate complex finger gestures from the American Sign Language alphabet into spoken letters: after converting hand positions to digital signals, the test unit both speaks out the resulting letters and sends them to a computer, where they can be used for anything from a game (shown in the video below) to, presumably, constructing whole sentences. Along with being accurate, the Cornell work is even designed with a mind towards how it would work in the real world, as the glove and its transmitter are both wireless and powered by 9-volt batteries. We hope that the project leads to a real product and an extra bridge between the deaf and the rest of us, but in the meantime, we'll be happy that at least one form of powered glove is being put to the noblest use possible.
