Is the translator finally here?
The evolution of a tool that can translate text accurately
ANJISHNU
KUMAR While a commercial version of the device isn’t out yet, we can be sure to see it come out soon
The idea of real-time machine translation is not a new one. Indeed, the problem of languages has been one that man has faced since the dawn of civilisation. Legends about the origin, the myriad languages go back over 4000 years as early man struggled to communi-cate— the Sumerian and Biblical myth of Babel is the most wellknown example.
More recently, the idea appeared in the 1940s, and is one of the most frequently used tropes in science fiction, often allowing human protagonists to communicate with members of an alien race.
Douglas Adam’s famous ‘ Piscem Ex Machina’, the Babelfish, parodied both these convenient sci- fi translators and the Babel legend.
In what can be considered an act of technology being inspired by science fiction, scientists and engineers have been working for decades to solve the problem of language translation. The most powerful translation engine ever created as of now is Google Translate, which allows people to translate text with incredible accuracy. But in true Google fashion, they intend to push it to the next level.
Google’s Android VP has revealed that the company has already developed prototypes for a realtime spoken language translator, a phone that you speak into, which then speaks back the translated version of your words almost instantaneously. With the evolution of speech to text conversion software it was only a matter of time.
The VP further said that the difficulties in the project were largely due to speech recognition issues in everyday environments and that the device had reached close to 100 percent fluency in controlled environments while translating from English to Portuguese. While a commercial version of the device isn’t out yet, we can be sure to see it come out soon. The Universal Translator Machine is still a fiction for now, but for the first time in 70 years, it seems like it’s only a matter of time till it’s built. We don’t know what Google’s going to call the product, but we have a good idea.