The Tower of Babel may at last be crumbling. The Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), inventors of the Internet and other
sometimes useful technologies, is developing a handheld two-way translation device.
Part of a larger project called Spoken Language
Communication and Translation System for Tactical Use, or TRANSTAC, the tool is
intended to assist military personnel who interact with locals in other
countries. Inside the United States, however, TRANSTAC could also signal a
breakthrough in the language barrier between government and a thriving
immigrant population.
After inventing the Internet as a military communications
system back in 1969, DARPA established itself as the leading government agency
for technological innovation. TRANSTAC was born in 2006 as the War on Terror
increased demand for interpreters in Iraq an Afghanistan. “We want to be able
to have these systems used in cooperative, cordial conversations,” said program
manager Dr. Mari Maeda. “We also started to do meet and greet—visiting local
leaders."
In addition to TRANSTAC, a project known as Global
Autonomous Language Exploitation (GALE) is in development to translate
foreign-language text with increased proficiency.
Meanwhile, proposals to make English the
“official language” of local and state governments have increased markedly in
recent months. Such
laws, however, are often highly controversial and labeled as racist. While
similar attempts have failed at the federal level, some local communities have
passed ordinances in an effort to encourage assimilation and reduce costs to
taxpayers.
If these local statutes become a trend, it could provide an
ideal opportunity for DARPA. If the taxpayer-funded technology of TRANSTAC and
GALE can be marketed to the private sector, the translators have the potential
to appease both camps. Governments can re-direct money used on interpreters and
document translation. At the same time, immigrants can utilize the technology
to facilitate communication and ease the frustrations of learning a difficult
language.
Dr. Maeda cautions that accuracy in TRANSTAC still needs
improvement. Currently, the device’s translations rate about 70 to 80 on a
100-point accuracy scale. Given the recent stalls in federal immigration reform
talks,
however, the need for such technology will only continue to grow. If DARPA can
work out TRANSTAC kinks, it could spell relief for non-English speakers across
the country—no matter what language they’re speaking.
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