Law & Linguistics

SpeechGuard Homeland Security

My nephew loves the Pendragon Adventure series by DJ MacHale, and being a good aunt, I read the books with him so we could discuss them with each other. Even though I think Bobby Pendragon is by far inferior to Harry Potter, I do admire Bobby’s ability to understand other people’s speech as if it were spoken in his own language, English, and to speak English in a way that other people understand it as if he were speaking their language. (I also admire Jesus’ disciples’ ability “to speak in different tongues” as well, but I guess some people including me find it easier to “believe” fictional characters than real ones.)

Even though normal humans do not have the ability of Bobby or the disciples to communicate with people who do not speak our language, ECTACO had offered us a device that would allow some of us to compensate for our plebeian limitation. This device is called SpeechGuard. It is “[t]he world’s first handheld speech-to-speech multilingual translator.” SpeechGuard, however, is not meant for the general public, but it is specifically designed for professions in these four areas: (1) Law Enforcement; (2) Medical, Fire, and Rescue; (3) Military; and (4) Transportation Security.

SpeechGuard is programmed with a set number of phrases, provided by professions in the areas SpeechGuard was designed to serve. The Law Enforcement modification of SpeechGuard obtained its phrases from over 50 law enforcement agencies, the Military from US Armed Forces agencies, and the Transportation Security came from Transportation Security Agency officials.  The user would speak a phrase into SpeechGuard, and it will repeat a phrase (in a different language) that is the closest match to what the user speaks into it. Users can add new phrases into SpeechGuard if the users have interpreters who can record the translated phrase.

The shortcoming of SpeechGuard is it is a one-way interpreter—meaning SpeechGuard does not translate from another language into English. Thus, it is designed to allow users to communicate with people when the user want to issue concrete directives or orders and do not have time to wait for a human translator. The questions contained in SpeechGuard are questions that ask for a yes/no response and questions that ask the listener to write down the answer, or make gestures. This is probably why ECTACO did not make a SpeechGuard for lawyers.

Currently the device is being sold for almost $1000. But many law enforcement agencies are willing to pay the price to overcome language barriers. Our world would be a much better place if we can all talk to Bobby Pendragon, but for now SpeechGuard will do.

Sources:

1. http://www.ohio.com/news/ap?articleID=1065873&c=y
2. http://www.speechguard.com/index.html

Law, Linguistics different tongues, enforcement agency, interpreter, language, medical, police, rescue, SpeechGuard, translator