NEC Develops Translation App

NEC has developed a multilingual speech translation system with a simultaneous message broadcast function to support communications in environments where different languages are used, such as construction sites.

This system has been adopted by Sumitomo Mitsui Construction's DoKoMinaPhone smartphone application, making it is possible to broadcast translations to all users or designated working groups at once.

The system is equipped with a neural translation engine from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), which is engaged in research and development, to provide more natural translation from Japanese to other languages or from other languages to Japanese. Spoken content can be recorded and replayed, and "original," "translated," and "reverse-translated" text can be displayed on a screen in group chat format.

Going forward, NEC is working on increasing the number of languages that are supported, adding hands-free operation functions, addressing technical terms and phrases specific to the construction field, and expanding it into a variety of industries, including the transportation, distribution, and food and beverage industries.