Have you ever wanted to have a conversation with someone in a foreign language only to be thwarted by the language barrier?
Anyone who has read The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy will remember the Babel Fish, how you could stick one in your ear and you can instantly understand anything said in any language. Or perhaps you’re a trekkie and you recall Star Trek’s Universal Translator? Such devices seemed like they’d only exist in the realm of science fiction.
Well, it looks like a new technology company, Waverly Labs, is taking steps towards making these technologies a reality with their Pilot earbuds.
You get two Bluetooth earbuds, one to put in your ear and one for your other-language-speaking counterpart. You then use a phone app that translates what you and your friend say in real time and then sends a voice with the other person’s language to their ear piece.
At least, that’s the company’s promise. The product is launching on crowd funding shortly and is expected to be released in the fall. The initial product will support the “Romance languages” (French, Spanish, Italian) into English and vice versa.
The device’s creator says he came up with the idea after he met a French girl. The video below demonstrates more fully how it’s supposed to work.
With translation software getting better and better, I expect products like these will make communicating in a foreign language much simpler in the near future!
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