The hygiaphone had already recovered its primary role as a virus barrier, with the Covid-19 pandemic. He now has a new vocation: multilingual interpreter.
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The device is installed at Seibu Shinjuku station in Tokyo. It comes in the form of a transparent window. On the counter is a tablet where you choose in which language you speak. The questions and answers appear in each language on each side of the glass, which is in fact a transparent double-sided screen. There are a few imperfections but no major errors. The station attendants also seem satisfied: “The understanding is pretty goodsaid one of them. It is mainly Americans and Chinese who use it. As we also have a somewhat specialized vocabulary, it still needs to be improved.”
The device is currently only being tested in a single station of a single company, and nothing says that it will be generalized, even if it seems promising.
Other simultaneous translation systems
Mobile operator NTT Docomo has developed one for tablets, which works by decrypting handwriting in one language to translate it into another language. But the most famous, impressive and widely used device is called Pocketalk, a kind of mini-smartphone with a single real-time translation application that works in more than 70 languages and allows almost fluent conversation.
These innovations are useful for foreign tourists in Japan or Japanese tourists abroad, but they will not replace language learning: if you really want to understand Japanese society and integrate into it, speak, read and write Japanese remains essential.