Smart Phone Translation Technology To Be Used by US Military
This summer National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) performed a final round of complete tests for 3 of their new two-way, real-time, voice-translation devices. These speech translation systems were developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to improve communications between the U.S. military and non-English speakers in foreign countries.
Traditionally, the military has relied on human translators for communicating with non-English speakers in foreign countries, but the job is dangerous and skilled translators often are in short supply. The DARPA project, called TRANSTAC (spoken language communication and TRANSlation system for TACtical use), aims to provide a technology-based solution. Currently, the focus is on Pashto, a native Afghani tongue, but NIST has also assessed machine translation systems for Dari—also spoken in Afghanistan—and Iraqi Arabic.
Source: NIST Website
On one hand, the use of machine translation in such unpredictable situations reduce the risk of human lives, including those of professional translators. On the other hand, how sophisticate a device should be to perform accurately and efficiently in the field, when the situation goes beyond 25 rehearsed scenarios?
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One Comment on Smart Phone Translation Technology To Be Used by US Military
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Vtech on
Mon, 20th Dec 2010 09:32
this post is very usefull thx!
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