Resources+and+Development

= Resources and Development =

The Babel Fish
The first instance of instant translation and point where the idea began. The Babel fish was a specific type of species from the Douglas Adams' science fiction titled "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". The Babel fish is a yellow leech-like fish that was a universal translator that translated audible speech instantly into audible speech in a different language and served as the language facilitator across species.

Comm-E-Link aims to bring this concept to life and bridge the language barrier gap by facilitating communication in various formats between sender and receiver by providing translated communication for comprehensible content.

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Dragon : Naturally Speaking
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Nuance Communications is a computer technology and software corporation that specializes in designing image applications and speech applications. They are responsible for the development of Dragon: Naturally Speaking speech to text recognition software which is speech recognition software that is able to understand audible speech and transmit it to text.

Dragon: Naturally Speaking provides instant response to audible speech and instant transmission of audible speech into visual text.

This form of technology helps pave the way for speech to text possibilities such as what Comm-E-Link aims to provide, the capability of speech recognition, followed by the interpretation of the speech and automated transmission speech into visual text. Comm-E-Link's technology aims to take that one step further where the visual text can be translated into another language while remaining an accurate literal translation of the initial speech transcribed.

Dragon Dictation iPhone App

 * = [[image:http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/037/Purple/0b/f6/d7/mzl.ovkgawuc.320x480-75.jpg width="218" height="316" align="center" caption="iPhone Screenshot 1 - itunes/apple.com"]] ||= [[image:http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/014/Purple/2f/d9/e1/mzl.tsfhynpf.320x480-75.jpg width="232" height="336" align="center" caption="iphone Screenshot 2 - itunes/apple.com"]] ||

Dragon dictation is another development by Nuance Communications. Nuance Communications developed an application for the iPhone that converts audible speech into text for text messages and emails and combined it with the touch technology of iPhone.

Dragon dictation provides instant response to audible speech and instant transmission into visual text

This development helps provide the market with an alternative format for the speech to text recognition which is what Comm-E-Link aims to do as well. Comm-E-Link aims to provide a 'communication' 'link' compatible with existing technologies to facilitate communication and global inter-cultural communication.

=SYSTRAN=

Systran is a leading provider for translation software with headquarters situated in France and the USA. Systran distributes translation software that falls in the category of machine translation. Systran products allow businesses and individuals to translate text, email, web documents and office documents with ease. This development helps provide more support for the machine translation industry where Comm-E-Link roots are and helps pave the way for translation technology on a whole. Google translator when first introduced in 2006 functioned off the Systran translation engine and Systran is considered one of the oldest machine translation systems. However what the Systran line of products is missing is the capability of audible speech alongside visual text which is where Comm-E-Link aims to provide the 'link' to facilitate inter-cultural communication.
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=The Electric Translator= (The Guardian UK)

==="//Ordinary users are also surfing foreign websites, or finding articles in foreign newspapers// === ===//and magazines, or chatting on bulletin boards. That and the rapid growth of a truly world //=== ===//wide web is stimulating the need for instant translations, and MT can provide them in a //===

//few seconds//"
-The Guardian UK (January 2000)

This excerpt helps identify the need for instant translation systems. Comm-E-Link aims to meet and satisfy the growing need for an instant translation system and to contribute to the Machine Translation field.

**AppTek - SpeechTrans**
Apptek is a US based company that specializes in language technology in the field of machine translation for over 30 language pairs (ex. english & arabic, french & english, etc.). AppTek has designed solutions to treat language technology needs such as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and speech to speech systems.

Apptek has developed a product that is capable of providing users with the ability to do real-time speech-to-speech translation. This product combines Automatic Speech Recognition functionality with text-to-speech functionality to provide live translation. The software recognizes audible speech in various languages and transmits them to text in a desired language. The audible speech is recognized and identified as a particular language through an input such as a microphone or telephone recording, then verified against a set of statistical rules of thumb for the output language and then transmitted to output.

AppTek SpeechTrans is available and deployed for telephone to telephone translation, PC dictation translation and handheld devices. This multi-format base and key functionality is what Comm-E-Link aims to provide as well except with more formats and availability as well as more language support.



Machine Translation and Computer Assisted Translation - a new way of translating?
(Translation Journal: Volume 8, No.3)

===="//Advances in information technology (IT) have combined with modern communication requirements to foster translation automation.// ==== ====//The history of the relationship between technology and translation goes back to the beginnings of the Cold War, as in the 1950s //==== ====//competition between the United States and the Soviet Union was so intensive at every level that thousands of documents were //==== ====//translated from Russian to English and vice versa. However, such high demand revealed the inefficiency of the translation process, //==== ====//above all in specialized areas of knowledge, increasing interest in the idea of a translation machine. Although the Cold War has now //==== ====//ended, and despite the importance of globalization, which tends to break down cultural, economic and linguistic barriers, translation //==== ====//has not become obsolete, because of the desire on the part of nations to retain their independence and cultural identity**,** especially //==== ====//as expressed through their own language. This phenomenon can clearly be seen within the European Union, where translation remains //====

 //a crucial activity//"
- __Translation Journal: Volume 8, No.3__ - //Olivia Craciunescu, Constanza Gerding-Salas, Susan Stringer-O'Keeffe// (July 2004)

This excerpt illustrates the history of the need for an instant translation system that dates back to the 1950s where numerous documents where being translated between English and Russian but methods at the time were very inefficient. To date within Europe, translation plays an important role in infrastructure and Comm-E-Link would aim to help sustain that infrastructure by providing a variety of available resources for translation.

=Top minds taxed by translation challenges= ( Associated Press)

==== "//...// //The past few years have shown that U.S. government intelligence goes only so far. One of the// ====

//elements for humans//"
-Brian Bergstein - Associated Press - (November 2006)

This excerpt examines the core challenge to designing technology that performs the task of recognizing input of one language, processing the input in a timely manner and transmitting output in a timely manner. Comm-E-Link aims to resolve this challenge and fulfill this task as a key and core service. This excerpt also demonstrates the interest and potential market for this type of technology, the US military and US intelligence.

Tech Solutions to Iraqi-U.S Language Barrier
(National Public Radio [NPR])

====<span style="font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.45em; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;">"//Part of the daily struggle for soldiers and Marines in Iraq is communicating with civilians and suspected// ==== ====<span style="font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.45em; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;">//insurgents. Few military personnel have enough fluency with Iraqi Arabic to be easily understood, and// ====

<span style="font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.45em; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;">//field translators are in short supply.//
====<span style="font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.45em; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;">//But technology may help close that communications gap. A hand-held voice translator device developed// ==== ====<span style="font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.45em; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;">//by Integrated Wave Technologies, already in use in other parts of the world, converts simple English// ====

<span style="font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.45em; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;">//commands into Iraqi Arabic or 15 other languages//"
-Xeni Jardin - National Public Radio (NPR) - (November 2006)


 * [[image:http://media.npr.org/programs/day/features/2006/nov/translator/blurb200.jpg?t=1248630810 caption="Soldier using VRT"]] || [[image:http://media.npr.org/programs/day/features/2006/nov/translator/main.jpg?t=1248630810 width="140" height="152" caption="VRT"]] ||

This excerpt illustrates an example of a communication issue Comm-E-Link aims to address and resolve. US soldiers stationed in Iraq are not fluent enough to communicate efficiently with the natives of Iraq while communication remains important between the soldiers and the citizens in Iraq.Integrated Wave Technologies has developed a portable device called the Voice Response Translator (VRT) that houses a selection of phrases linked to recognized audible speech and transfers output into the language of the receiver.

The VRT provides instant response. The VRT stores output vocal commands in the target language which are played back upon detecting the equivalent audible command in the initial source and native language of the user. Since 2006 the VRT could hold commands in up 16 different languages. The limitation that exist is the one dimensional communication channel in which the VRT operates. For example the VRT can recognize programmable English commands and output audible speech in Arabic however the VRT cannot process Arabic commands and output them in English. Comm-E-Link aims to provide the solution to this limitation by operating through more than one channel where communication can occur from sender to receiver and from receiver to sender.

Sample Audio of the VRT:

//Thank you for Co-operating translated output to Arabic// //[]//