AT&T And the Chinese Academy of Sciences Collaborate On
English-Chinese Translation System
-- Real-life Traveler Encounters Are First Test; Future
Applications in Video Telephony and Videoconferencing Internet
Services --
FLORHAM PARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 20, 1998-- AT&T Labs
and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing today
announced a five-year research program to develop an
English-Chinese speech translation prototype that is now
underway.
At the end of the project, English and Chinese business travelers
and tourists will be able to communicate in their respective
languages in commonly-encountered situations, such as taxis,
retail shops and restaurants, using mobile phones.
In the future, the technology will allow users to communicate
with people speaking other languages in videoconference sessions
and on videophones and standard telephones.
The English-Chinese translation prototype will contain several
thousand words. By September 2003, English- and Chinese-speaking
travelers will be able to speak their requests in their native
language which will be translated automatically in real-time and
delivered to the recipient on his/her mobile phone.
AT&T Labs and the Chinese Academy of Sciences will further
develop their respective speech recognition, language translation
and speech synthesis technologies by working on software
algorithms that permit immediate translation from Chinese to
English and vice versa. Both parties have agreed to use AT&T's
interoperating protocol for translation systems which is designed
to work on top of emerging IP standards for Internet telephony
and multimedia communications.
''We are moving aggressively to collaborate with world-class
partners to make speech translation services a reality,'' said
Dave Nagel, chief technology office of AT&T and president of AT&T
Labs. ''It is our goal to break down the last great barrier of
communication between people, namely the barrier of language.''
''In conjunction with AT&T Labs, we believe we will be able to
produce the world's most precise translation system for English
and Chinese,'' said Dr. Lu Yongxiang, president of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
AT&T Labs, the research and development unit of AT&T, is working
to create the information services and communications network of
the twenty-first century. AT&T Labs is a leader in the
development of technologies and standards for audio, speech,
video and image processing; electronic commerce and digital
copyright management; search and directory services; network
architecture, design, engineering and operations; and other
technology areas critical to the advancement of new and existing
telecommunications and Internet services.
CAS' acoustics, speech and digital signal processing is backed
mainly by the research and development capabilities of CAS
Institute of Acoustics, which is working to create the acoustic
information technology and communication applications of tomorrow
and is a leader in China in the areas of speech processing and
speech interactive information technology; consumer electronics;
underwater acoustics and engineering; ultrasonics; and sound and
vibration.
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