Sony Unveils PSP Translator

jonerik writes "Sony has released software for its popular PSP handheld gaming device called TalkMan. In development for some time now, the program currently stores about 3,000 conversation patterns in English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. 'A user may speak the words "Koko-wa-dokodesuka?" (Where is this?) in Japanese, for example, into the device's microphone, upon which a cartoon bird acting as an interpreter will pop up and start talking in the user's language. The bird is also able to translate the reply into Japanese.' A European release for TalkMan is expected in the spring."

News?

[CMiYC]

You've been able to import this from Lik-Sang for quite some time now. In fact, here is their hands on review [lik-sang.com] from Nov.

Old news

[Anonymous Coward]

This game has already been on shelves for a long time in Japan. I suppose it could be used as a translator, but it's definitely not useful as something a person could quickly pull out to get a translation. That talking bird is annoying as hell -- think going through 3 menus just to get to clippy. Barf. You also need to have an awkward mic plugged into the USB port that renders all carrying cases useless.

What's cool about this game isn't its ability to translate, but moreso its capacity to correct pronunciation until it's perfect. The game is really stellar at correcting a person's pronunciation and intonation in each language. I imagine it's also a great way to learn some basic phrases before going somewhere.

There's a really neat game that just came out for the DS that focuses on dictation. The game will say an English sentence, for example, and the player must write that sentence onto the screen as quickly as possible with the stylus. The Japanese have all sorts of neat language and "edutainment" games -- too bad we don't get in on the fun in the West.

Re:what about Hungarian?

[dhardisty]

The Hungarian phrase meaning "Can you direct me to the station?" is translated by the English phrase, "Please fondle my bum."

read the complete transcript... [uibk.ac.at]

Re:And if you speak the words...

[DeadCatX2]

Actually, desu ka is used to end a sentence. It's kind of like a verbalized period. It roughly correlates to the "be" verbs in English.

Japanese language [wikipedia.org] is really cool. Verbs always come at the end (hence why desu ka is like a verbalized period - verb at the end of the sentence), and they have very few pronouns and don't use them nearly as much as we do. Their language is VERY dependent on contextual clues. The same word could be used to reference the self, another person, or an inanimate object; in order to differentiate, the circumstance must be taken into account, which may include something like them pointing at the object the word is referencing.

I couldn't even fake being fluent, but my stab in the dark would be
rootkit wa nani desu ka?

The wa particle comes after the word rootkit to signify that rootkit is the subject of the sentence. This is because Japanese can use subject-object-verb or object-subject-verb. So instead of "Joe hit John", it would be "Joe John hit". The particle wa is attached to the subject so that the listener knows who hit who. There's more particles, but I forget most of them.

Nani is roughly translated as what, but there's a few ways to say what.

Flamebait?

[Roj Blake]

It's just a futurama joke!

Were the French translators [wikipedia.org] of the show flamebaiting when they changed the joke so that German was the dead language? No, it's just a joke.

Bite my shiny daffodil ass!

This Is More Correct

[juancnuno]

Rootkit ga doko desu ka?