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201 Jen: This, of course, isn’t the only instant translation technology in the world. Neil: No, Google has something similar, though it’s less advanced than this Japanese app. Listen to the first part of a report from the BBC’s correspondent, Richard Taylor. How does the Google technology work? BBC correspondent Richard Taylor: You simply talk into your smartphone. That’s then sent to the server from Google, which does real- time voice recognition and then machine translation on it and then that data is sent back to your phone either as a script or, if you pay a little bit extra in terms of data charges, as a voice file. Neil: He says when you talk into your smartphone, it’s sent to the server – a central computer which other computers get their information from. Jen: The server does real-time translation and then sends back a text or voice file. Neil: So you read the translation or, if you pay a little bit more, listen to a translation sent as an audio recording. Jen: Amazing stuff! Neil: Indeed, but this new app in Japan, developed by the company NTT Docomo, goes even further. Jen:That’s right.With this technology, you can have an actual conversation with someone on the other side of the world, speaking a different language to the one which is coming out of your mouth! Neil: Incredible! Now listen to the second part of the report from the BBC’s Richard Taylor. BBC correspondent Richard Taylor: But they’ve actually taken the concept and applied it to normal phone calls. So, you’re making a phone call to somebody from Japan in Japanese, on the other side of the world, for example in Britain. It will take that Japanese voice, do the real-time machine translation on the server, couple of seconds later it would bring it back down to you in English. Or at least that’s the idea. Neil: So, the difference is that this app allows people to speak to foreigners in real time – with a slight pause while the real-time translation takes place. Jen: So, which languages does it convert? Neil: At the moment, Japanese to English, Mandarin and Korean. But more are to follow.