Ceatec: Sharp Translator Helps Tourists

Sharp has developed a prototype personal translator that should make life easier for Japanese tourists when they travel abroad.

Ceatec Entrance

The prototype translator, which works only with English and Japanese, is roughly the same size as a small PDA and sits comfortably in the hand. When a user speaks into the translator in either English or Japanese, the gray-scale liquid crystal display (LCD) will first display a transcription before offering a translation into the other language.

If the translation is done from Japanese into English, the user can press a button and the translator will pronounce the English phrase using its text-to-speech function. This function does not work with Japanese.

The translator, which was on display at the Ceatec exhibition in Chiba, Japan, relies on voice-recognition software from IBM and then applies translation software used in Sharp’s pocket translators to convert this text into Japanese or English as required.

Sharp Translator

Currently, the device supports only Japanese and English, but it has a Micro SD memory card slot, which allows for Sharp to add support for more languages, said Toshiyuki Matsumara, a company spokesman.

Sharp plans to commercialize the translator at the end of this year, Matsumara said. Pricing for the device, which will be sold only in Japan, has not yet been decided.

-Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service (Singapore Bureau)

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