Edinburgh University’s Informatics Centre is developing a machine capable of translating someone’s voice voice into another language in real time.

Similar in concept to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’s ‘Babel Fish’, this latest advancement in linguistic technology has the potential to break down communication barriers worldwide.

Edinburgh University’s Informatics Centre is developing a machine capable of translating someone’s voice voice into another language in real time.

Similar in concept to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’s ‘Babel Fish’, this latest advancement in linguistic technology has the potential to break down communication barriers worldwide.

The organisation behind the project, Effective Multilingual Interaction in Mobile Environments (EMIME), describe the machine as “a mobile device that performs personalised speech-to-speech translations”.

EMIME not only picks up and converts a language as it is being spoken, but can detect tone, pace of speech and accent.

Simon King, from the Centre for Speech Technology Research at the University told Student: “we can make a computer speak with anyone’s voice, given only a small sample of their speech.”

“Nothing will be lost in translation,” said lead scientist Steve Renals.

“It’s not just the words that are important, it’s how you say it, and if you could keep that across languages it’s more natural and you can avoid misunderstandings.”

Developments are being sponsored by Nokia Phones, who are hopeful of having the EMIME device installed upon their products by 2011.

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