Enabling Multicultural Communication: Languages Interpretations
For many years now we have been accustomed to finding tools on the Internet that allow simultaneous languages interpretations. With more or less accuracy and, of course, with a wording as artificial as robotics, served to translate words or phrases but, in no case, as an interpretation tool. Depending on the complexity of the text, the result generated by the page in question contributed little to the understanding of the text. The passage of time, the huge number of queries and the learning models that adjust to what we know in a broad sense like NOW, have managed to significantly improve these translations. Although, at least for now, the difference between AI and a human interpreter continues to be appreciated,it seems more near the time when it could be replaced. In essence, we can identify three main challenges
Transition from translator to interpreter
The big difference between translating and interpreting lies in the time, resources and way of doing it. Although translation usually has a more relaxed component, where there has been time to evaluate what was meant in the other language and find the ideal way to express it in a different language, and it is generally given in written form, interpretation involves doing it immediately and usually verbally. This demand for immediacy without giving up the precision of language interpretation in real time is a challenge that seems to be conquering today with the emergence of AI.
Real-time voice translation
Although we have seen that there are tools that allow this immediate translation in writing, is there something similar by voice? The possibility of being able to have conversations and that an AI can interpret what the two interlocutors say and translate it into their respective languages is undoubtedly the next step. There are professional tools that allow this simultaneous call translation, allowing, for example, a company to provide telephone support to clients from countries where languages are spoken that its team does not master.
Translate in real time in any language
There are approximately 6,000 to 7,000 languages in the world. However, this number can vary depending on how languages are defined and classified. Many of these languages are spoken by only a small number of people, while others, such as English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi, are spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world. The challenge of being able to have languages interpretations in real time is enormous. Even if the possibility of real-time translation with the main languages spoken by the vast majority of the world’s population occurs soon, it would give rise to an almost unprecedented global communication scenario. Languages such as English, French or Spanish have served as communication bridges between 2 interlocutors who needed to talk and who did not have a common territory in which to speak. The advent of AI is finally removing this obstacle and allowing a German speaker to speak to a Japanese speaker with real-time voice translation. Without humans, without interpreters and without intermediate languages. In conclusion, the emergence of AI has changed the way we relate to the world and to other human beings, breaking the language barrier. The fact that it is Artificial Intelligence itself that is promoting it, leaves us with a reflection as paradoxical as it is true: there has never been the possibility of such natural and close communication between humans as that generated by Artificial Intelligence.
