PDA Speech Translator

jlowery writes "Not quite as good as a babelfish, but a PDA that does translation is probably better than resorting to hand gestures alone. I could see this as a boon to the tourist who travels to places where English speakers are uncommon."

Comments

The problem with these things

[the man with the pla]

The problem with every software that I have used that tries to decipher human language (like Zork or the game included with emacs for X) is that you have to know what words the software understands and in what context.

I have seen the same problems with automated phone systems that are supposed to recognize a generic voice and I can see the same thing happening here.

The main difference here though, is that when entering text, you know exactly what you input before pressing enter. With voice recognition software, how do you know that the software "hears" exactly what you say? If you say somethign like "What are my appointments for the thirteenth?" and it hears, "What are my appointments for the thirtieth?" you would be receiving the wrong information.

I hope this is a success but I don't have my hopes up.

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Re:The problem with these things

[Angus Prune]

It all boils down to confidence. I have to be confident that what I'm doing will work.
I use a wireless keyboard but Im having to switch back because I find I have to check what I am typing because it doesn't always pick up every keypress
Voice to text are only of limited use while you have to re-read and correct any mistakes.
While this is only 80% accurate it can never be trusted. When this works at 95% it won't be trusted. I won't trust that this won't mistake Renal for Venal.

While this is a great step foward I can't see it being trustworthy for 2006 and I still think the same problems still apply to this as have always applied.

Re:The problem with these things

[fastidious edward]

It was seriously almost as distracting as hand entering the number.

Are you being sarcastic? I can type a number on a numeric keypad much faster than I can say it. The 5-6 times much more than compensates for the time of getting the phone out of my pocket.

Voice recognition is great, but tactile recognition is also great, as is body movement.

Until the machines can be 100% accurate without frustration they are next to useless.

I know I have trouble understanding someone with a heavy Southern-USA accent, like someone else may have trouble with a heavy Scottish accent (as firends have) or heavy London accent (as I can revert to), people are not perfect at understanding people, let alone machines understanding people.

Voice regognition is not a great saviour and IMHO is years away, in the meantime I'm happy with a numeric keypad.

Good Grief...

[ackthpt]

I could see this as a boon to the tourist who travels to places where English speakers are uncommon."

Spoken like someone who has never taken a foreign language class. Suppose that thing is going to get the accent right? Emphasis on the right syllable? Not likely, mostly good for translating some text message into the PDA holder's tongue (and doing an Engrish job of it anyway.)

Re:There are telephone translation services.

[belmolis]

Aptitude testing is useful, but two other major factors in the success of the US government language schools (there are actually four: The Defense Language Institute in Monterey, the Foreign Service Institute, the CIA Language School, and the NSA Language School) are time and focus. In most other situations, such as high-school or college, people studying a language study it a small fraction of the time. It's one of four or more courses. Class time is 3-5 hours per week. On a typical university schedule, that's a maximum of 130 hours a year in class. In contrast, in the government language schools, language study is the whole show. Students spend 8 hours a day or more on the language (not all in class). That comes to much more time devoted to the language, and there are fewer distractions.