p2pnet - rss feed: IBM ‘English to Arabic’ laptops
p2pnet.net News:- IBM says it’s delivered MASTOR, an English to Arabic speech-to-speech translator, to US forces in Iraq.
The Multilingual Automatic Speech-to-Speech Translator will at first be used by the Army Medical Department, US Special Operations Command and the Marines on 35 ruggedized laptops to “facilitate military and medical-oriented conversations with members of the Iraqi security forces, in hospital settings and during daily interactions with Iraqi citizens,” it says.
It comes in two-way English to Iraqi Arabic, English to Modern Standard Arabic and English to Mandarin Chinese, with additional languages planned, says the company, also stating:
“The focus of MASTOR is to convey the meaning of what was said, even if minor errors are made by the speaker(s) or speech recognizer. During normal operation, the users speak into a microphone (one at a time) that is interfaced with MASTOR. MASTOR recognizes and translates the speech, then vocalizes the translation in the target language for the foreign language speaker to hear. The foreign language speaker can then speak into the microphone in their own language, and MASTOR translates and vocalizes their speech in the original language. MASTOR is a software-based solution that can run on a PDA, tablet PC or laptop computer.”
The system recognizes and translates more than 50,000 words in English and 100,000 in Iraqi Arabic, promises the company, adding:
“IBM intends to explore public and private sector market opportunities where language translation technologies are in high demand, including aerospace and defense, medical facilities, law enforcement, banking, travel, and government customer service settings on the state, local, and federal levels.”
Notwithstanding IBM’s hopes, MASTOR was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) CAST program, “so I’m not sure what if any future windfall from products sales and licensing would belong to IBM,” says IBMEye.
None of the stories say if I surrender! or Don’t shoot! are among stock MASTOR phrases.
And is someone who uses MASTOR a MASTORbator?
Also See:
IBM - Speech Translation Technology Breaks Through Language Barrier for U.S. Forces in Iraq, October 12, 2006
IBMEye - IBM’s MASTOR translates like no other, August 8, 2006
p2pnet newsfeeds for your site.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss
Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
October 13th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
Is this a beta version of MASTOR?
I know. Bad joke. I coulden’t help it…
October 14th, 2006 at 5:19 am
I love translators and hope to see more of them come into being for voice recognitions. Hopefully this can expand of course eventually to “all languages” (if it doesn’t already exist.. i.e. nsa or whatever)
just think a palm that can translate languages.. awsome for those who travel or as a tool in public service and panglobal business.
or just to talk with a freind in another country more easily.
October 14th, 2006 at 5:19 am
^^^ that comment was by William Ashley