I was reading about Microsoft’s Translating Telephone – the new real time translator from MS. This telephone allows you and whoever you are talking to speak in two different languages by translating the speech in real time. Really cool – have seen this in Star Trek episodes where aliens from across galaxies interact with each other by using such a translator. Of course, there are hiccups to be overcome when a user speaks real fast etc. The implications of this telephone is huge – business meetings involving people from different countries can become more productive, diverse accents can be handled in a better way and so on. I don’t think this will eliminate the advantages of knowing multiple languages and am not sure how effective this gadget will be in capturing nuances in speech. Nevertheless, it is a great tool in today’s context and hopefully MS will be able to iron out the issues in the current version.
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This gadget sounds really cool and I’m sure everyone would love to try it. Now that we are talking about Star Trek, there’s another gadget I’d love to see in real life. Remember the machine that could beam people here and there…no more jet lag, time loss or expense. And then there’s…most of us can go on and on about gadgets we’d like to see. But for now, go Microsoft!