As read in the People's Daily
|
|
|
Google is developing an instant speech-to-speech translator
INTERNET OMNIVORE Google is working on software that can instantly translate foreign languages and hopes to have it ready for use on mobile phones in the next three years, according to the Sunday Times.
Google's head of translation services Franz Och said, "We think speech-to-speech translation should be possible and work reasonably well in a few years' time. Clearly, for it to work smoothly, you need a combination of high-accuracy machine translation and high-accuracy voice recognition, and that's what we're working on. If you look at the progress in machine translation and corresponding advances in voice recognition, there has been huge progress recently."
Apparently Google had an epiphany. It was already working on two separate voice recognition and automatic translation technologies and realised these could be channelled together to develop software that could translate foreign languages.
Previous voice recognition applications required you to sit like an abject dullard reciting War and Peace into a microphone in the Queen's English, BBC news presenter circa 1952. But Och believes that mobile phones are the perfect conduit for training the software to improve voice recognition.
"Everyone has a different voice, accent and pitch," said Och. "But recognition should be effective with mobile phones because by nature they are personal to you. The phone should get a feel for your voice from past voice search queries, for example."
In the meantime, we're sticking to the surprisingly effective SHOUTING VERY LOUDLY and pointing method of making ourselves understood in foreign countries. µ
Share this:
Share
... may favourite internet comment today!
... and up until I read yours it was "My nipples explode with delight.
My hovercraft is full of eels."
You sure that isn't just the voice of Jobs in your little head telling you to buy more crap you don't need?
we're getting there slowly
There's already an app for this one the iPhone and it works amazingly well.
Seriously I've been waiting for years now for someone to try this although I figured they'd try to do it with something less obtrusive like say a bluetooth headset designed to only go from one language to another specific language at a time based on the software loaded by the user. Now that could be the way google is gonna work it but given the amount of storage space you can get on most android phones I figure google is gonna go for a more robust set of languages per install. As for that accuracy of the translation based on what I've seen it should be reasonably accurate for most of the major languages but even then I'd only put it at say 80% and good luck on actually getting proper sentence structure. If you don't believe me try having babelfish translate something from japanese to english sometime, it gets the general idea accross most of the time but the sentence structure is all messed up and often there is one or two words that are in the wrong context.
@CountMackula
I can't guarantee it but I think what they are going for is you speak to your phone and it responds back with the phrase in the other language so you can say it to whoever you are talking to. I figure this is their plan cause most computerized voices are, to put it plainly, horrible plus I've yet to hear one that you don't have to pay massive amounts of money for which has more then a monotone style where as if it gives you back the phrase you can put your own inflection on it.
Oh and as for your lithuanian girlfriend hypothetical if you're trying to carry on a relationship with someone who has no common language with you you're doing it wrong.
Good translation is considered a Hard AI problem, which means if you have a computer that can do it, you have AI as smart as you are. Understanding speech is another of these problems.
People have been saying since the 50s that this sort of thing is just a few years away...
This sounds great! Until it translates something wrong. How can you trust that what you're saying into the mic is what's coming out the other end on their speaker? All is well and good until you're talking about going to a nice romantic dinner with your Lithuanian girlfriend and she hangs up on you and never speaks to you again. Or better yet, punches you in the face next time you see her and you never know why.
Also, is this conversion is done on my phone BEFORE transmitting? or via server? Is the FBI and Homeland security going to hear my English sentence as well as my translated version? What if I said in English that I wanted to "go to church" and it translates to another language saying I wanted to bl0w up a church just because it f*cked up and a bunch of agents show up at my door.
Also, if it's translated on the phone, before it's broadcast, does that mean any criminal activity cannot be admissible in a court of law because it's not truly the criminal's voice? People could just claim in court that that wasn't their voice on the line, or that the translator messed up.
Also, does the poor chap with the ultra high pitched English voice get to choose a deep voice in Italian or Spanish?
If Google translate is any indication of what this will be about there will be riots in the streets after somebody asks for directions.
At least in my language if you put in a general term in Google translate you just get gibberish or a disgusting throw back.
And don't get me started on translating a web page, that is just retarded, unless your in need of a hardy laugh.
Proof - if any were needed - that it is from watching old episodes of Star Trek.
The Hitchhiker's Guide remarks that, by allowing everyone to understand each other, the babel fish has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the universe.
Combining two of the most well-proven and bullet-proof technologies, namely speech recognition and machine translation, will surely result in an exceptional product.
Instant speech-to-speech translation? ... Via a server?!
If you listen carefully, George Orwell spining ever faster in his grave, has just changed up a gear.
My hovercraft is full of eels.