Language Matters October 2011: Apps Translation for iphone, android & smart phones

Dear Language Friends,

When you look around on public transportation and on the streets, you will see them: people with their heads down staring at small devices in their hands. The corners of their mouths express rudiments of emotion from time to time.

Their fingers rush over shiny surfaces hitting virtual buttons. So what is going on? Well, they are using a smartphone of some kind: a handheld, fully-equipped computer with a special feature - it can also be used as a telephone.

Contributed by Bengt A. Bergt - LingoStar Team

 Do you need translation services for your Apps?

LingoStar Language Services can help with the translation and localization of Apps. They are subject to internationalization like all other kinds of software. But what is even more important: LingoStar helps when translation Apps reach the limit of their ability. Before you write strange sentences and cause laughter or simply incomprehension on the receiver side, just contact LingoStar - to do the work or at least to be sure that the sentences you have written are correct. LingoStar not only translates language; we provide inter-cultural guidance. So contact us today for a free quote!

 What are they all looking at?

The programs on the phones are called "Apps" (short for Applications). They are software programs and games which have been created specifically to run on these devices. You can simply download them from an online shop like iTunes. For some you have to pay - others are free.

 What kind of Apps are there?

There are useful Apps like satellite navigation, weather and news and there are, let's say, less useful ones, like games and morphing apps that can be a lot of fun. There is an ever increasing number of very useful ones: the translation and language learning Apps. There are over 6000 of them - with varying levels of quality.

 Apps are the way of the future!

Dictionary and language instruction publishers will not be able to avoid the App craze. They are the fastest growing software product on the market and have the easiest and most accessible distribution channel. They, metaphorically and literally, go directly into the palms of the customers' hands.

 Ectaco Inc.

The language learning software packs they provided were fun and easy to use!

Ectacto is the world's leading company for the development and production of electronic dictionaries and Apps to ease language learning.

Among all the high quality hardware and software solutions they offer, the LingoSoft Western European Pack is a great deal for those wishing to learn a language in a fun, interactive and efficient way.

 What is the history of translation software?

Once upon a time there were teachers, textbooks and repetition drills. This was the standard way of acquiring a foreign language and yes, it still exists. But it seems to be the way of the past. In the 1950's the Georgetown Experiment showed us that it was at least possible to translate the meaning of a word into another language automatically. In that experiment, scientists fed 60 sentences into an early version of a computer which had 6 grammar rules and only 250 items of vocabulary in its memory. But the correct translation of the context of a whole sentence happened only by luck.

 What is the status of translation software today?

Not much has changed since then. Yes - the increase of computing power made the 'translation' of longer and more complex texts possible. But double meanings, for which you need to understand multiple contexts, and the creation of a working syntax is still the main problem. Both of these issues require understanding and translation of not only words, but meaning: simple for humans, or so we think (at least most of us), but machines? Machines don't think. They calculate, they compare and they list. And that's the crux of the matter. Despite the very sophisticated logarithms of the modern language translation Apps, they are still based on context-based probability calculi - the comparison of the number of previously chosen words with regards to the given and known context. If you enter a sentence that has never occurred in the software before, the App has a problem. It can only guess the previously most appropriate version of a known comparable text.

 How can translation Apps help me?

Apps can help you get an idea of what a text is about and they can help you find your way in a foreign country; they can even talk to passerby if you are asking for directions; but they are hardly able to incorporate all the nuances of language, i.e. the context. So they don't manage to fully translate language. At best, they translate words and align them as they were in the source text.

 How do language Apps impact everyday life?

Language training and translation Apps are part of an incredibly fast growing market and directly affect every one of us. They tear down borders between languages. They orientate and even talk to people. But for most conversations, letters and business you will have to learn the language. But you can't learn all the languages of the world! For that reason there are translation companies like LingoStar. They can help you when your translation App can't!