Experimental
programs that use speech recognition to perform real-time language translations
have been kicking around for years now, but Microsoft took the idea to a new
level at its TechFest 2012 event last week.
Like
other translators, the software developed by Microsoft Research allows you to
talk to it in your native tongue and send it out the speaker of a device as another
language -- Spanish, French, Chinese, or such.
What
comes out of that speaker, though, isn't the ersatz speech of a computer robot,
but an ersatz approximation of what you sound like.
What's
more, the software will create a 3D image of your head that makes it look as if
you're speaking the translation.
Called
Monolingual TTS, the system currently has 26 languages in its repertoire.
Acquainting
the system with a voice does take more time than it does in your typical speech
recognition program -- about an hour of training Monolingual TTS in your vocal
tones.
If
the application can be stuffed into a smartphone, it would be a boon to
international travelers. Language training is also a good fit for the
technology.
Microsoft's
vision in the translation space is broader than what has been produced by its
rivals. It wants to use lifelike virtual avatars that not only mimic your looks
but also your voice and the movements of your lips when you speak. The results
produced from that vision can be impressive, but they can be creepy, too.
Google,
which has a widely-used online text-based translator, has also been delving
into speech-based translation.
Google's
approach is to enable you to speak into a device in your native tongue and have
the device turn your speech into the language you want and send it out its
speaker in a synthetic voice.
The
person you're speaking to can then answer you in their native language, which
your device will translate into your language.
Google
offers a free app -- Translate -- for its Android operating system that has a
conversation mode, although the results you may get with it will be less than
perfect.
While
it would seem that Apple's Siri voice app would be a natural for speech
translation functions, it doesn’t natively support the task. However, if you
jailbreak an iPhone 4S, which is not recommended by Apple, you can run an app
called Lingual which allows you to say something in your native language and
Siri will display it on the iPhone's screen in one of 30 languages.
source
from PCWorld
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