Advances in technology are often dreamt up by science fiction writers long before they are available to those of us who live in the real world. Douglas Adams came up with the idea of a small fish called the Babel Fish which, when inserted into the ear, would enable the listener to understand every language in the universe. Google has just announced that they are developing a mobile phone that should be able to do something similar.
Google already have the ability to translate text from fifty-two of the world’s languages. They already have the ability to recognise simple commands given vocally by phone users such as Google search commands. By combining the two they hope to have the ability to offer phone users a real time way to listen to a foreign language and have it immediately translated into their own.
Head of translation services at Google, Franz Och claims that the progress in machine’s ability to translate languages as well as recognise voices has been enormous in recent years. He says that although there are still a great many challenges in developing voice recognition the tools are already in place. One of the biggest problems with machine’s ability to recognise vocal commands is the different speeds at which people speak according to David Crystal at Bangor University in Wales. He also says that the millions of different accents around the world will also be a challenge. Och says that the big advantage of developing the technology for the mobile phone is that they are very personal to their user. They should therefore have the ability to learn the nuances in their owner’s voice patterns.