ProZ.com Translation Forums

Impressive iPhone software | Also for Nokia smart phones

Heinrich Pesch — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:48:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Impressive iPhone software
Poster: Heinrich Pesch
Post title: Also for Nokia smart phones

[url removed]

If you have no internet connection your resources will be limited. A reasonably sized multi-language dictionary needs lots of memory.

Impressive iPhone software | Please...

Rossana Triaca — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:13:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Impressive iPhone software
Poster: Rossana Triaca
Post title: Please...

don't link to Wimp, credit the source (in this case the two-man company that developed the app):

[url= [url removed] ] [url removed] [/url]

I think most comments on this thread are missing the point; of course the translations will be off, the app uses a simple MT engine that will never produce accurate results, and the quality of the translation is limited to the corpus and algorithms used (and given that the platform is a mobile phone, these will probably never get any better). BUT, what's impressive here is the pattern recognition and replacement in real time without using an internet connection!! Notice that there's no need for user input whatsoever (no typing!), and how they match the color of the signs. This is commonly called Augmented Reality... and it's the first time I see some AR that is actually useful (besides some apps for colour blind people).

Imagine walking in a foreign country and suddenly being able to have a rough translation of all the signs (as long as you have a semi-horizontal line of sight to them) simply by pointing your phone. Really amazing; if they include support for non-Roman alphabets this app will become be a huge success!

Edit: Forgot to add, you can check on Youtube a lot of user videos testing the app, (here's [url= [url removed] ]one example[/url]).

[Edited at 2010-12-17 13:30 GMT]

Impressive iPhone software | Interesting, but failed

Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:59:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Impressive iPhone software
Poster: Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Post title: Interesting, but failed

Many of the source and target texts they show in the video are wrong. They need to hire a linguist!

Impressive iPhone software | Machine translation

Noni Gilbert Riley — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:34:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Impressive iPhone software
Poster: Noni Gilbert Riley
Post title: Machine translation

In the examples they give, despite the incorrectness of the translations, there is little room for ambiguity, but I am sure that there will be translations which are incorrect to the point of being dangerous. I imagine they will have covered their backs with appropriate disclaimers!

Impressive iPhone software | interesting app but

Evans (X) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:44:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Impressive iPhone software
Poster: Evans (X)
Post title: interesting app but

the few English translations shown in the clip leave something to be desired... they are literal and the word order faulty.

Impressive iPhone software

Marek Daroszewski (MrMarDar) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:04:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Impressive iPhone software
Poster: Marek Daroszewski (MrMarDar)

Hello All,
I just came across this short film about an impressive (IMHO) iPhone application.

[url removed]

I have not visted the site promoted on the film itself as I have no interest in EnglishSpanish translations nor an iPhone for that matter.

I do, however, see ample market opportunities for such products, especially in the tourism industry.

I think we all would appreciate comments from people who actually have this piece of software and could confirm it works as on the film.

All the best,
Marek

PS. I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but have not found anything like 'Future of the Translation Industry'. Naturally, moderators are free to put this thread in a more appropirate place.