Google’s Smartphone Software Will Automatically Translate Foreign Languages

The Google Nexus One failed to really impress the tech crowd when it debuted early last month, but had it had the new translator feature that Google is reportedly working on, it may have been a different story entirely. According to a story in the U.K.’s Sunday Times, Google is hard at work on a translation software to be implemented in smartphones. The software will automatically translate foreign languages, meaning that two people speaking totally different languages could carry on a seamless conversation.

The new software will build on Google’s work in voice recognition and translation. The software will analyze full snippets of speech and then translate them over to the language in question. Google is working to increase the accuracy of both voice recognition and translation to a point where this new technology would be viable.

Google expects to have a basic system developed within a few years.

This definitely sounds promising, but if it isn’t entirely accurate, it could cause all kinds of miscommunication. Hopefully, Google is onto something. [via Sunday Times]