Travelers going to locations where people speak another language might very well be taken by the concept of a “universal translator,” a device that would make it simple and easy to understand someone, no matter what language they speak. Technology is not quite that far advanced, but in recent years some important leaps have been made in the field of language translation.

 

Likewise, other types of language tools — such as those that convert the spoken word into text or vice versa, have a variety of applications, some purely fun and some practical in nature.

 

To get a better sense of what advances have been made in language technology, and what work remains to be done, TMCnet turned to Bill Grandizio, CEO at RantNetwork.

 

 

BG: Founded in 2004, by Bill Grandizio, RantNetwork’s vision is simple: “Imagine a world without language barriers.” Based on that vision, our goal is to provide mobile language translation applications that break down normal communication barriers. The labors of that vision have given birth to Communilator. Soon to become an industry standard, Communilator is destined to make paper dictionaries and phrasebooks a thing of the past.

 

RantNetwork’s customers are domestic and international cell phone carriers. Within that market,we provide language translation applications targeted for business and vacation travelers, students, and anyone interested in foreign languages.  

 

 

BG: While there are numerous companies offering language translation software, RantNetwork, thru its flexible open architecture platform, partners with the leading providers for each specific language pair. This allows us to always offer our partners the best translation software available the world over.

 

 

BG: Machine language translation applications are not new, but right now they are better than ever. From the one word at a time translation of the industry’s infancy, we now can translate entire phrases to and from text or speech. RantNetwork has pushed this envelope further by being the first to offer text translation of images captured with the mobile device’s camera. In fact, it is innovation by companies like RantNetwork that are fueling the explosive growth in language translation software.

 

 

BG: Today the applications for machine language translation range from the replacement of the basic paper dictionary and phrasebook to spoken translation of image text. These applications are becoming indispensable with international business and vacation travelers. Whether for pleasure, business or emergency situations, machine language translation applications are facilitating communication across language and cultural barriers.

 

 

BG: RantNetwork’s approach to speech technology revolves around putting the best and easiest to use tools in the user’s hands. Our Communilator application is available on BlackBerry (News - Alert)- and Java-enabled cell phones. The Communilator suite of translation applications seamlessly integrates with the host handset making language translation as simple as using the cell phone itself.  Yet behind its intuitive interface, Communilator is powered by the RantNetwork translation servers. These servers utilize a flexible architecture which allows us  to interface with the world’s leading translation software.

 

 

BG: RantNetwork focused on mobile translation after an in-depth analysis of the cellular phone market. Based on that analysis, the focus was placed on providing translation solutions to growing economies that are dependant on foreign businesses and tourism while at the same time having high cell phone feature usage trends. Based on that data, cell phone carriers were targeted. We offer these carriers a value added service which allows them to create new revenue streams based on their domestic as well as roaming markets.

 

 

BG: The Comcel deployment was a tremendous learning opportunity for RantNetwork. In the process we used Communilator to translate emails and marketing materials. On the technology front we discovered that the carrier’s technology infrastructure is not always an easy match for our own. Due to that challenge, we have revamped our infrastructure to make carrier interfacing a simple “plug and play” operation. Lastly, we’ve learned to deal with other countries’ contractual laws.

 

 

BG: We are very excited about these upcoming launches. In the past months, RantNetwork has worked very closely with these three carriers to ensure a rapid implementation. All three carriers are market savvy and host state-of-the-art technology platforms. We all look forward to working together to create new and recurring revenue streams.

 

 

BG: RantNetwork has based its business around  revenue sharing because our research revealed that was model used by most carriers.

 

 

BG: All BlackBerry handsets and most J2ME handsets. Where there may be some conflicts with the Image application all other applications are functional on J2ME handsets.

 

 

BG: This year, we plan to add speech-to-speech translation, and to increase our language pairs to 40 by year’s end. We will be introducing our server to the 2010 winter Olympics in British Columbia. We also plan to make our communication applications the industry standard.

 

 

BG: More languages will be translated from text to speech, with translations performed faster and more accurately. We also predict that new handsets will be able to perform translations between users and that video-to-speech technology will be introduced on mobile phones.

 

 

BG: RantNetwork will continue to be a leader in speech technology solutions and innovation. We will add more languages to our current offering of over 20 language pairs. We will continue to find and partner with the providers of the most accurate, fastest and in-demand language. With RantNetwork leading the pack, the industry will be subject to a rippling effect of new application development in the mobile market. These new applications will provide businesses and consumers globally with the tools to truly understand one another. One day we will not know the term “language barriers.” Imagine the possibilities.