Being Indian, I have always been pushed to understanding Hindi, the native language of my parents. Despite understanding and speaking Hindi, I still have a major language barrier between many of my parent’s friends and family. With there being almost 22 different languages spoken in India alone, I often wander around Indian gatherings not knowing what anyone is saying. For children who don’t understand the languages of their parent’s friends, or for tourists in a foreign country, a new translation device has been created. Two companies, TimeKettle and Waverly Labs have both developed products that are essentially earbuds that translate different languages so you can hear it in the language you wish to.
The new technology that has been developed works by initially using a voice recognition software to turn speech to text. From there text in one language is changed to text in another. Then this text is changed back to speech in the desired language, which is what the earbud owner hears. The first of these technologies had a time delay, in order to take in the information and translate it, but newer versions are being developed to combat these issues. The two devices to understand 20-36 different languages and have settings about whether or not to address ambient noise, pairing to your phone etc. The cost of these range from around $110 to $230, though some of these products are still being prototyped and tested out. Though there is much more to come from this technology, though the progress that has been made in such a short time is astronomical and is only moving forward.
In a class dedicated to science, technology, and society, this invention is the epitome of bringing individuals together through new technology. One of the things that came to my mind after reading this was Steven Johnson’s “Where Good Ideas Come From” and the idea that the more people you can communicate with, the more you can learn. While the globalization of the world through the internet is a fantastic progression, there is nothing like communicating with individuals in person. A product like this will revolutionize travel and the business world and allow a more free form of communication to follow, resulting in a better understanding of other cultures. While there are obviously things to be improved about the current technology, developing something that presents no barriers for speaking to others will grow empathy and hopefully cause and even more global society with countries that are less developed. An issue with this product is that both parties are required to have this device for effective communication to occur, so there need to be efforts to make this product as accessible as possible so that it can actually be used in its full capacity.
Schwartz, K. (2019, November 7). The Latest in Translation Devices. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/travel/the-latest-in-translation-devices.html.