The real 'magic' mic: Megaphone translates Japanese automatically into three different languages including English

• Panasonic developed the megaphone in preparation for the 2020 Olympics
• It is being trialled by staff working at Japan's Narita International Airport 
• The device can convert Japanese into English, Chinese and Korean
• The airport agreed to the trial after staff struggled to communicate with foreign travellers during flight disruption caused by flooding last year

In TV series Star Trek, the crew of the Starship Enterprise overcome communication barriers with alien lifeforms with the help of a universal translator.

Now, electronics giant Panasonic has unveiled a megaphone that makes at least part of this fictional technology a reality. 

Described as 'magic', the megaphone automatically translates what is being spoken into the microphone into three different languages that are then played out through the speaker. 

 

 Panasonic's Megaphoneyaku (pictured) automatically converts Japanese speech into English, Chinese and Korean, making it easier for staff at Narita International Airport, which is running a trial of the technology, to communicate with foreign passengers

The loudspeaker has been called Megaphoneyaku - a combination of the word megaphone and the Japanese word for translation.

It is currently is being trialled at Narita International Airport to help staff provide better information to foreign travellers.

According to Japanese newspaper Mainichi, the airport said it wanted to trial the device after it encountered difficulties communicating with stranded foreign travellers during floods in 2014.

Staff demonstrating the device said phrases such as: 'Your bus will be arriving shortly' in Japanese and these were then automatically converted into the other languages and broadcast.

Users can also select which language they want the megaphone to translate their words into using a touchscreen on top of the device. 

The megaphone is Panasonic's latest product aimed at overcoming communication issues when people are travelling.

Earlier this year it unveiled a palm-sized device that can be worn around the neck and automatically translates speech into 10 different languages.

The translator connects to the cloud to help ensure an accurate translation and Panasonic is aiming to have it available in time for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.

It is also developing smartphone apps to scan Japanese signs and translate them on the spot.

Masahiro Ido, an executive officer at Panasonic, said: 'We are trying to imagine a variety of differing scenarios to make practical devices available in cooperation with other firms.'

Until a few years ago the concept of translating text and speech on the fly without laboriously looking up words in a dictionary was a dream.

Many science fiction films from Star Trek to Men in Black have proposed using universal translators to break down the barriers to communication.

In TV series Star Trek, the crew of the Starship Enterprise overcome communication barriers with alien lifeforms with the help of a universal translator (pictured). Panasonic's Megaphoneyaku goes some way to making this fictional technology a reality

Users of the Megaphoneyaku can select which language they want the megaphone to translate their words into using a touchscreen on top of the device (pictured). For general information announcements they can also ask the device to translate what they say into all three languages

Google has helped to lead the way with its Google Translate app that can automatically convert text viewed through a smartphone camera into 90 different languages from around the world.

More recently it introduced the ability to recognise speech.

Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, also recently released a live translation tool that allows people from different countries to talk to each other in their native lanugages.

The tool, called Skype Translator, instantly provides spoken and written translations.

It currently has four spoken languages available – English, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin - and 50 written languages that can be accessed through instant messages.

Gurdeep Pall , from Microsoft, said in a blog in May: 'Skype is now removing another barrier to make it possible for people to communicate irrespective of what language they speak.

'Skype Translator relies on machine learning, which means that the more the technology is used, the smarter it gets.'

Staff at Narita International Airport struggled to communicate with stranded foreign visitors during flooding last year and they hope the new microphone (pictured) could make keeping them informed easier in the future

 

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk