Audience of One

Mark

Bother, you beat me to it. The BBC have done that before with a translation device (I think the same one)

Comment added at 17:10, October 26, 2006

Rory

“Babel” is a common word applied to linguistic translation programs. As in, “we’ll take you back to the tower of Babel, when everyone spoke the same language.” Presumably before the scattering.

Anyway, this new device offers very little new, except for the unique method of input. The actual quality of translation will be on par with modern machine translation services (i.e. not that hot).

Comment added at 22:17, October 26, 2006

John

And the unique method of input will just make you look like a baddly dubbed movie… I think I would rather have the obvious pause so it is obvious I am being translated and just be honest about it and not try to hide it and look silly… I’d also like to see how hard it is to concentrate on moving your mouth into your own language shapes and hear different sounds as a result….

Comment added at 22:37, October 26, 2006

Mark

Yes, but just because it’s related doesn’t mean it makes sense. I mean it’s like saying “so this new machine that fixes your car automatically after it crashes is going to be awesome, it’s the first of a whole new world of driving-while-tired-and-a-bit-drunk machines.

Comment added at 22:59, October 26, 2006

John

I don’t really know what you are saying… Just because it is related to what? It’s going to encourage life threatening behaviour? I’m a bit lost…

I’d imagine, like most developing technology, it’s a case of just that, developing. You can’t expect things in development stage to be perfect or even useful. People are making basic things so that they can then move on to refining and making useful tools. For example you can look at how far image recognition has advanced. In the early 90s the cutting edge was a camera being able to follow a moving object with a little dot. Now systems in common usage are able to single out number plates and drivers face of a speeding car, or harder yet, a tax disc, read the date and tell if it’s out of date.

I’d imagine this (translation) technology will be heading the same kind of direction. Right now it’s a primitive stage, new ideas are being thought up and thrown into the mix to see how it goes. The translations may suck and the idea seem silly, but its all work in progress. But perhaps not worth getting excited about just yet.

Comment added at 02:06, October 28, 2006

Sheepie

I think Mark was replying to the first paragraph of Rory’s comment. That confused me greatly too…

Comment added at 14:29, October 28, 2006