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Synterpeter

 Automatically interpets spoken foreign languages
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(-1) 		  [vote for,
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You go somewhere, be it a store, park, movie or even a foreign land and you have a question or the other person has a question about something but they don't your language........not to worry. You simply take out your Synterpeter, touch a button to sample the language,(you may not be sure of what language is being spoken), the device analyses and audibly emitts to you what the other person is saying, touch another button for your response, speak into the device and it then replies to the other person in their language, what you just said. I believe a device like this would be extremely helpful and necessary and would be a great way to communicate. Does anyone know if something like this is in the works already or have heard of something like this before.??
—EarVac, Oct 25 2002

Computer-based translation systems and tools http://www.bcs.org....latran/nala_018.htm
25 Oct 02 | A decent (readable) brief on the state of machine translation systems, including those with speech recognition. [bristolz, Oct 25 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Wired Magazine: Machine Translation's Past and Future http://www.wired.co.../8.05/timeline.html
25 Oct 02 | pub. 2000 | A somewhat tongue in cheek timeline of machine translation, including predictions. [bristolz, Oct 25 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Wired magazine: Talking to Strangers http://www.wired.co...1&topic=&topic_set=
25 Oct 02 | pub. 2000 | A good, but two year old, article on the subject. "Why does the future of MT never seem to arrive?" [bristolz, Oct 25 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

U.S. Army has them http://australianit...5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
Baked enough to deploy into the Middle East right now [krelnik, Oct 25 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

[link]






       I'm sure it's in the works and there's probably only about 25-30 years worth of work yet to be done putting the finishing touches on.   

       I was once more optimistic about computer-based language translation but have since been enlightened (pessimized?). It is an extraordinarily difficult task.
—bristolz, Oct 25 2002
   

       Please do.
—bristolz, Oct 25 2002
   

       who do we blame if and when this gizmo goes most horribly wrong and a fight breaks out?
—po, Oct 25 2002
   
      
[annotate]
   


 

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