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Author Topic: Live Translations  (Read 2937 times)

Jay Hodges

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Live Translations
« on: September 07, 2006, 07:52:02 AM »

Who out there broadcasts their services in other languages?  How is it done?  Is there automatic translating equipment or do you have to use a human translator?  I've just begun to look into this because our area has a growing Hispanic community and we would like to accommodate our non-English speaking friends.
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GodRox

Brad Weber

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Re: Live Translations
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2006, 10:36:13 AM »

I believe that entities such as IBM, DARPA and NEC have been working on automated speech-to-speech translation, but with limited applications and languages.  I think there are some spoken English to printed Spanish programs and there are text to text programs, but I don't know of any automatic translating systems for spoken English to spoken Spanish that are currently available.  Even if there was I would certainly be concerned over these actually conveying the desired intent and feeling rather than just a literal interpretation with some errors such as "towards" being interpreted as "to Wards".  Look at the interpretations you get from programs that translate written text and then add in the variables of spoken word and expression and it seems very problematic.

This may sound callous, but if you have such a growing Hispanic membership that it justifies adding translation to serve them then it seems likely that you should also be able either to get sufficient volunteer translators or to justify the cost for a professional translator.  Given current technology this seems a much more reasonable approach.

A common way to accommodate translation is a human translator and a multiple channel IR or RF system.  One channel provides ALS for hearing impaired while the other channel(s) carry the translation(s).  The congregation members who want to receive any of these use small receivers that can be tuned to the different channels.

There are translation services out there that provide translation over the phone.  You use a phone interface or hybrid to interface your sound system to the phone and they provide a translator.  This is used by many courts if they need a translator for specific cases but not on a regular basis.
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Brad Weber
muse Audio Video
www.museav.com

Mac Kerr

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Re: Live Translations
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2006, 05:24:34 PM »

If you decide to hire an interpreter, be sure not to call them a translator, they can get offended.  Rolling Eyes  It is not a matter of hearing the words and translating them into the English words, it is hearing the sentences and interpreting them into an English sentence with the same meaning. There are several companies that provide that service, but they tend to be located in the mid Atlantic region.

Mac
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Live Translations
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2006, 05:24:34 PM »


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