Speech recognition software - Multilingual Universal Translator ™ for Pocket PC English -> Spanish / French / German.

Ectaco Universal Translator reviewed (23 January 2002)

Software Author:	Ectaco
Title:	Universal Translator
Cost:	$79.95
Reviewed By:	Geoffrey Moehl
Rating:

When the phone company issues a replacement phone number, it is usually an unwelcome situation. That new number usually comes with old baggage since the previous owner was the debt king. Then there are those befriending telemarketers who are convinced your name really is Mr. Bob, since their phone database is current to 1987. After the umpteenth call asking for or Mr. Bob the cookie monster, there has to be a way to turn this situation around in your favor. Enter Universal Translator! Once again the Pocket PC saves the day with a great program. Want to talk in Spanish, French, or German? The choice is yours as to what that telemarketer is going to hear. Use the speech recognition translation for a truly interesting conversation- just let the person on the other line do the talking. If that person happens to speak that language, better use the phrase database of 2600 different selections to keep them guessing while your Pocket PC asks them various questions.

While most people would not use such a program as this for phone conversations, the real benefit that I see is to learn another language. For children to learn to a new word, they have to correctly use it 75 to 100 times before it is added to the long-term memory. Knowing that, how can anyone expect to learn another language just from going to a class that meets once a week? There are no shortcuts to committing to memory the verbal nuances of a particular language. It has to be pronounced correctly and then repeated back the same way. Universal Translator will be your at home teacher, saying the sentence as many times as necessary.

Lovely interface...

The only problem I encountered with this program was the speech recognition. The adjustments to get the recognition with a high level of accuracy takes time. I wish there were some presets like noisy restaurant, outside, classroom, ect. that would streamline this process. The funniest response I got while speaking was when I said, ‘Where's the bathroom?’ which was recognized as ‘long time no see?’ Other than that, I found the program to run smoothly and perform admirably.

Universal Translator is available in Englist to French, German or Spanish for $79.95 each (or $99.95 for all 3) from the Ectaco web site.

Speech recognition software review.