WASHINGTON, 22 June 2007 — In a place as dangerous as Iraq — which was given the dubious distinction last week as the second most unstable country in the world — the job of a war-zone translator is perilous. Scores of interpreters working with US troops have died in the Iraq war — victims of combat or assassination. But communication with civilians and suspected insurgents remains a huge part of the daily struggle for soldiers and Marines in Iraq. Few military personnel have enough fluency with Iraqi Arabic to be easily understood, and translators remain in short supply.
Now technology is helping in the risky business of battle-zone translations. One hand-held voice translator devices, already in use in other parts of the world, converts simple English commands into Iraqi Arabic or other dialects and languages.
Thousands of basic one-way translators are already being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. These devices, such as “Phaselater” by VoxTec, can translate simple yet mission-dependent English phases such as “How many of you are there?” into Arabic.
Such systems allow troops to communicate in Arabic through a laptop computer equipped with voice recognition and translation software. But what soldiers and Marines say they really want are small, hands-free devices that translate speech in both directions, as people talk to them.
Now there is a new pocket-sized instant translator that looks like a gadget from a Star Trek movie — speak a phrase in English, and the device spits out the translation in any language you want, and vice versa. Now, gadgets with this kind of technology aren’t just for Startfleet officers. The “Phraselator,” a uni-directional language translator, is being used in Afghanistan and Iraq to communicate with hard-to-reach locals — and can save lives in both medical and security scenarios. Originally intended for use in a medical setting, the Phraselator also includes general-use phrase translations, like introductions and questions about demographics (i.e. “How old are you?” “Where do you live?” etc.). General health questions might also prove useful for deployed troops. “Was somebody injured? Were they shot? Did they step on a land mine?” Using these basic questions, soldiers can hint at what might have happened, and solicit a meaningful response.
The Phraselator’s success was boosted by the fact that they could adapt a program that they developed on a much larger and complex platform to as small a system as a Palm Pilot. Soldiers can carry it around at all times, since the PDA is ruggedized and has a battery life of about a week. A key challenge for developers is working with the vernacular form of Arabic spoken in Iraq. Modern Standard Arabic, the dialect used in broadcasts and writing, is very different from Iraqi Arabic.
Another issue is that the program must work for speakers with very different voices. Many voice-recognition programs work best when “trained” for use with a particular person’s voice and accent. Even the best computerized translation is still prone to errors. At worst, a single botched translation can spur a string of miscommunications. But new devices, such as BBN Technologies’ Foreign Language Conversation Translation Device — represents the future for troops in foreign lands who don’t have human translators to assist them.
Troops could speak in English and have their words instantly translated into Iraqi Arabic, “spoken” by a computerized man’s voice. The program also translates Arabic into English. “Will it replace the need for an interpreter when you’re having some sort of high-level conversation? Absolutely not,” Kristin Precoda told reporters, speech technology research lab director at SRI International. “But it is absolutely to the point where it could be useful in some carefully chosen situations.” For troops deployed in foreign countries, this technology development is most welcome.
