Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Spoken Japanese-English translation Using Your PDA

Posted by Hemos on from the better-be-a-fast-microprocc dept.

Ewann writes "Yet another step closer to the universal translator: Digitimes is reporting that NEC has announced trials of software for your PDA that listens to spoken English and Japanese phrases, translates them, and re-speaks them in the other language. Should be very handy the next time I'm in Tokyo."

2 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. Useful in Tokyo? by Lethyos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Which district? There are significantly different dialects of Nihon'go spread throughout Tokyo itself, let alone the northern and southern parts of the country. Try learning some basic Japanese before journeying to Japan. You PDA will likely end up calling a 30+year lady an "oban-san" and that's the last thing you want in Japan. :)

    --
    Why bother.
    1. Re:Useful in Tokyo? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No, it won't! There is such a thing as "standard Japanese" very well defined in Japan. So, these devices will translate into standard Japanese.
      Even in rural area in Japan, you will never see a Japanese who cannot understand standard Japanese, while they may never speak that to you. Within Tokyo (I am talking about Tokyo only, not including the surrounding area), the spread of the dialect is very limited. In fact, in southern Kanto area (Kanto is near-Tokyo area in Japan), standard Japanese is spoken by most people.
      It is true that some Japanese dialects are hard to understand if you aren't used to, but it doesn't mean people can't communicate each other in the last 40 years thanks to the mass media (radio and TV).
      One last thing, there is not such an expression as "oban-san" in Japanese, at least it is not a usual expression. I assume you mean "obaa-san"?? "Obaa-san" means an old lady (60+ years old), and "oba-san" means an older lady (30-50 years old, maybe). There is such a word as "oban", which means the same as "oba-san", but also contains somewhat negative sense there (and not very polite in many cases). In the literal sense, "obaa-san" means grandmother, and "oba-san" means aunt, by the way.