"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 Silicon 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 spoke 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 immediate 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
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