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Navy Unveils Polyglot Chat For Iraq
An anonymous reader writes "According to ScienceBlog, the U.S. Office of Naval Research, trying to keep friendly armies in Iraq from accidentally blowing each other to smithereens, is helping create software that connects instant messaging (IM) with machine translation (MT). The result: Chat software to be used in Iraq that automatically translates your messages into the correct language of the reader, called the the Coalition Chat Line - it's 'getting rave reviews from U.S. and allied-coalition personnel.'"
The US and UK troops will be able to understand each other! Two nations no longer divided by a common language :-)
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Given the quirks of babelfish and similar, I hope poor, mangled machine translations don't cause more negative incidents than they prevent.
Was it microsoft that applied for a patent related to automated translation with IM? Maybe they can now sue the Navy and get event more licensing revenue!
...is better than you may think. Though it is as difficult as everyone says to translate a random text from one language to another, translating short texts in a specialised domain between well-linked languages isn't too hard. Heck, they might even be able to get away with using lookup tables.
What we say: "We want to help you."
What they hear: "All your base are belong to us!".
Online Starcraft RPG? At
Dietary fiber is like asynchronous IO-- Non-blocking!
Maybe now the guy that works at the pizza place can finally understand my order. When does the public get this software?
Chat software to be used in Iraq that automatically translates your messages into the correct language of the reader, called the the Coalition Chat Line
Iraq doubleplusgood / Iraqpersons secure / foodwater supplies up 82% / Kerry verging crimethink / oldthinkers unbellyfeel Bush / think in Bushspeak.
The coolest voice ever.
US: our base is protected
translate
UK : Your Base is under control
translate
Pol : Your Base Is Inside our control
translate
Jap: All Your Base Are Belong To Us
translate
Iraq : Well No Sh!t sherlock.
END TRANSMISSION
--Idiots, Every single one of YOU, A flaming mass of conglomerated morons, hey wait a second, isnt that how RAID works?
Hey, like it or hate it, Esperanto can be taught in just a month or two, to a level allowing excellent communications. I think its great to have such software, but that doesn't help face to face, whereas everyone learning a neutral language will help in every situation. So if we are going to pour money down a funnel, lets pour it down the funnel that has long-term benifits for mankind.
Drop me a line at:
Key ID: 0x54D1D809
Two nations no longer divided by a common language
Indeed. I can't tell you how many fights erupt when a Brit asks a Yank for a cigarette.
The coolest voice ever.
original:
"Our troops will be to your left doing field exercises for 24 to 48 hours, please disregard hostile sounding noises during that time"
english to japanese, then japanese to english:
"As for our troops there is a noise of sound of the enemy between that you ignore on your left which does 48 hour field exercises from 24"
english to korean, then korean to english:
"Our unit in 24 48 hours in your left which does a hazard field exercise, the sound which will be hostile during that hour which disregards me will connect a sound arresting"
pray for our troops
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The article starts with a question:
So how do you get soldiers and commanders speaking different languages in a theater of war to communicate effectively and not, for example, blow each other up mistakenly?
I think there is a simple answer to that question - use human translators! I would never trust a machine translation with my life.
I speak a second language to reasonably high standard, and so I realise that languages can be really subtle things. Sometimes things just don't translate directly, and they need interpretation e.g.
Non-English speaking soldier How's the new weapon system working?
US soldier It's hot! Damn hot!
Non-English speaking soldier Oh dear! It shouldn't be hot! You must stop using it immediately!
US soldier No I mean it rocks!
Non-English speaking soldier It's fastenings are insecure? Sounds like we should send an engineer immediately! Please cease using it!
Sametime (IBM's instant messaging product for the enterprise) has had this for some time:
http://jkent.dfw.ibm.com/ebia/doc/LTSS.html
What did you eat today? http://www.atetoday.com/
...since Iraq was originaly the Babylonian empire :-)
Iraqi: I will not buy this record, it is scratched.
Soldier: Sorry?
Iraqi I will not buy this record, it is scratched.
Soldier: Uh, no, no, no. This is a patrol.
Iraqi: Ah! I will not buy this *patrol*, it is scratched.
Soldier: No, no, no, no. Patrol...um...military (holds up his rifle).
Iraqi: Ya! Mil-teh-ree! Ya! Uh...My hovercraft is full of eels.
Soldier: Sorry?
Iraqi: My hovercraft (pantomimes hefting a rifle)...is full of eels
Soldier: Ahh, insurgents!
Iraqi: Ya! Ya! Ya! Ya! Do you waaaaant...do you waaaaaant...to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?
Soldier: Here, I don't think you're using that thing right.
Iraqi: You great poof.
Soldier: Look, just move along please.
Iraqi: If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? I...I am no longer infected.
Soldier: Uh, may I, uh...(takes notebook computer, types in a phrase)...Costs six and six...ah, here we are. (speaks weird Iraqi-sounding words)
Iraqi punches the soldier.
Well, since in the last 10 years only 4 Canadians have died as a result of direct military combat, all 4 of them the result of US Friendly fire, will it translate Canadian to American as well? Oh wait, I guess we all speak English.. So much for that..
Mod +5 Drunk
Never flame the guy with the flamethrower ;)
Instant messaging was a vital communication method during the Iraq war. I was recently involved in a privately-funded study and interview series on the Iraq war.
Ground-based voice communications were poor during the war because forces moved too fast and were too spread out for the out-dated ground-based voice network to catch up. One of the most vital communication links then became the satellite based instant messaging feature of the vehicle-mounted Blue Force Tracking system, which tracked force locations with a GPS and satellite uplink, and provided unit location mapping.
There were many stories of guys in tanks who's only communication link with command at times were their Blue Force Tracking instant messaging system. IM isn't just for 16 year old girls anymore.
Blue Force Tracking, though not widely enough deployed, was one of the biggest technological successes of the war, and was directly responsible for the almost perfect friendly-fire record in the war. The instant messaging feature was practically an after-thought, but we were very lucky we had it, even in limited deployment, and it proved itself as a mature war-time tool.
Conversely, the 507th Maintenance Company incident, where Jessica Lynch was captured, could have been prevented if they had the Blue Force Tracking system. They were last in a convoy and fell behind their convoy a couple miles, at which point they lost radio contact, and didn't know the exact convoy route without the convoy realizing they had fell behind. Now the first and last vehicle in an Iraq convoy is almost always equipped with a Blue Force Tracking unit so that the convoy leader immediately knows of a straggler and is always in communication with them via instant messaging.
Braddock Gaskill