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When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite - Winston Churchill
NEC tech turns Japanese voice into English text
Say sayonara to linguistic difficulties
Friday, 30 November 2007, 16:04
Word up, or however you say it over there, Japanese
readers. Your mobile phone conversations can now be
instantly translated into English, thanks to NEC.
According to
Agence
France Presse, the Japanese speaker’s words can
be near-instantly rendered into English text.
Now, how do you say, “We’ll believe it when we see
it?” µ
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But limited utility because it lacks an ability to translate English into Japanese.

So the Japanese tourist might ask, "Could I have a subway map please?" 

But he wouldn't understand the answer he gets. "Subway? What, a doe-eyed tourist like you wants to ride the subway? Are you f___g nuts?"

I find it amusing that NEC thinks they can translate Japanese spoken language into English text, when I haven't found a program yet that will properly translate Japanese text into English text: an example using google translator: 

"Remember, as good writing had better!"
"Discussion and left hand, fingers on the right to ENPITSU opinion, notes that letters gesture."

NEC either has developed artificial intelligence secretly, or they're full of crap :P