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'Tower of Babel' Translator Under Development

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the what-did-he-say dept.

monopole writes "The BBC is reporting on a bilingual translator under development by Carnegie Mellon University which senses sub-vocalized speech, recognizes it, translates it and then synthesizes the translation. The overall effect would be to dub the speech of the speaker."

5 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. The science behind it is fascinating by chowdy · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Tower of Babel Translator is small, yellow and leechlike, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Tower of Babel Translator in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Tower of Babel Translator.

  2. Other Languages by Longfinger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If this technology gets good enough, none of us would ever need to learn a second language. That would be a bad thing, right?

    1. Re:Other Languages by kfg · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Language is not composed of words. It is composed of idiomatic phrases (idiomatic phrases do not mean what the words mean) only understandable in context. True automatic translation is not possible.

      As an example, I was once called upon to translate the simple advertising slogan "Si Misura" from Italian to English. This had already been translated as "Made to Measure."

      Quick, without thinking, tell me what the product was?

      If you're a native English speaker you probably think of a suit or dress. Maybe a kitchen cabinet. Some tool with human ergonomic requirements.

      The product was a liquid chemical compound, so I translated it into the correct English idiom for such; "Custom Blended."

      And with that simple example we haven't even touched on issues of syntax yet; or more complicated issues of social usage (say formal vs. informal forms).

      KFG

    2. Re:Other Languages by JuzzFunky · · Score: 5, Funny

      Second Language? You might not even have to larn a first language! Just grunt. Mm.

      --
      Unexpect the expected!
  3. Remind me to turn this off at work by Joebert · · Score: 5, Funny
    Electrodes are attached to the neck and face to detect the movements that occur as the person silently mouths words and phrases.

    It's only a matter of time before this thing gets me fired.
    --
    Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.