Friday, November 9, 2012

Microsoft Strives Towards A Real Babelfish

Microsoft showed off a video of some new speech translation technology Thursday, which automatically translates spoken English--in real time--to Chinese, a big step towards a real "babelfish"--the universal translator from The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy. The demonstration, given by Rick Rashid, Microsoft's Chief Research Officer, showed him explaining the technology and at the same time, having what he was saying translated in real time to Chinese. Microsoft did not say if it plans to roll out the technology anytime soon, however, the demonstration looks to be the closest to a true, real-time language translator show to the public. Rashid demonstrated the translation technology in China a couple of weeks ago.

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