万花筒 2008-08-14&-08-15 手机翻译，老外的福音

"Welcome to JaJah Babel. To translate from English to Chinese, press 1; to translate from Chinese to English, press 2…"

And it's really that simple, using your cellphone and software fittingly called Babel from a Silicon¹ Valley company called Jajah to translate your English phrases…

 
"Please take me to my hotel"
 
…into Chinese. (To replay the translation...)
 
"It's correct."
 
Jajah CEO, Trevor Healy, showed us how dialing one number can make your Olympic trip to Beijing more talkative.
 
It's a combination of three technologies: voice over IP technology, real time translation technology, and then voice recognition technology.
 
It's not perfect yet, but it's new and eventually this becomes this.
 
"I am sorry I have no watch"
 
I spoke² this morning to, actually one of the Irish athletes who said that taxi drivers in Beijing don't understand Olympic Village. So there's certainly an immediate³ need in the market.
 
And all you need is your cellphone to make the world a smaller place one conversation at a time.
 
Scott Budman for NBC News

 

1 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。