New translation tool interprets in real-time
NEC announced Thursday it has developed a software program that is capable of real-time speech translation between the Chinese and Japanese languages.
The software currently has a library of 50,000 Japanese and 36,000 Chinese words that are frequently used by travelers, according to a statement released by the Japanese company. The speech translation tool also takes into account different accents spoken in various regions across China, NEC said.
The translation will be available in both audio and text, explained a spokesperson from NEC's Japan office, in an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia. The company first introduced a program for real-time English-Japanese translation on PDAs in 2002.
The new software is however only compatible with devices running on Microsoft's Windows CE mobile platform, he noted, and there are currently no plans to include support for other operating systems.
The spokesperson declined to say when the software will be launched commercially, but noted that it is still in the development stage. NEC will continue to improve the product's accuracy in voice recognition and translation, he added.