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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.
NTT DoCoMo begins testing automated Japanese / English translation app that actually works (video)
We went hands-on with NTT DoCoMo's menu translator last month at CEATEC, but now Japan's leading carrier has a new translation tool to show off -- and it's quite impressive. The smartphone-based service analyzes your spoken word in Japanese or English, letting you converse with your phone in either language and presenting an on-screen and audible translation. Even more notable, however, is the near-real-time call analysis, in which the device translates your call immediately after you finish speaking each line. We defer our interlingual calls to our Japanese staffers, but an app like this would make it possible to converse directly with folks in other countries without the need for a human translator. NTT is claiming a success rate of between 80 and 90 percent, which is a significant improvement over the version we saw demoed earlier this year. The carrier started testing the service with 400 users today, and hopes to make it available to all subscribers in the second half of 2012. Jump past the break to see it in action in a pair of Japanese-language demos.
NTT DoCoMo menu translator app hands-on (video)
NTT DoCoMo menu translator app hands-on (video) NTT DoCoMo begins testing automated Japanese / English translation app that actually works (video) NTT DoCoMo exhibits on-the-fly speech translation, lets both parties just talk (video) Have you ever tried to read a Japanese menu? If there aren't pictures to reference, you'll likely have a difficult time figuring out what to order -- unless you can read Japanese, of course. NTT DoCoMo hopes to improve the dining experience for those of us that can't tell our ウニ (sea urchin) from our カニ (crab), building an app that can translate any of 9,000 possible menu entries from Japanese into English. It also supports English to Japanese translation, along with Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese) and Korean translations as well. The app worked fairly well, occasionally mistaking things like salmon caviar for "a rare part of the pork." OK, so perhaps there's a bit more work to be done. Either way, real-time visual language translation is definitely tricky stuff, and could be enormously helpful to travelers once devs figure out how to make it work -- and work well. Jump past the break to see the app do its thing at CEATEC.%Gallery-135633%
