Experiment in Real-Time Translation

What if everyone in the world could speak to each other no matter what language they spoke? Perhaps the realm of science fiction? Well, no longer. Earlier this year users participated in SuperPower Nation Day, an experiment in multilingual discussion. The creators of the experiment designed a website that could be used to talk to another person, and be able to communicate in their language, regardless of whether the other user didn’t speak the same language as them.

Although users could also participate in the debate by telephone, using interpreters, those who were taking part online had their messages automatically translated using Google Translate software. The six languages involved in the experiment were English, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Persian, Indonesian and Spanish. The question for the experimenters before they began was whether using the computer and the translation software would allow users to communicate easily.

Yes, Google’s translation software has been available online for some time but the real test here was how it would stand up in real time conversation, where it would have to be able to translate quickly and effectively. There was always going to be some errors involved however, but on the whole there was eighty to ninety percent effectiveness.

Some of the problem lies in the fact that not everyone speaks a perfect representation of their language all of the time. What about slang terms, new words, uncommon or out of date usage? These are just some of the problems that will need to be rectified in the future. Chewy Trewhella, new business development manager for Google said "There's always going to be slang, but we´re getting better at it all the time."

Interestingly, some of the participants in the experiment opted to type not in their native language but in English. Perhaps this is because they thought they could do a better job than the software, or maybe it’s because some users are so used to using the internet in the English language that for them it was simple the default position.

So what are the future applications of this? Possibly the biggest benefit will be for businesses, especially those that often make use of online conferencing tools. If employees are able to type and converse with associates across the world, regardless of their language this is surely going to be a cost effective tool. More interestingly, in the future will the software be able to operate on a vocal level?