The Next Big Thing – The Real-Time Universal Translator

We're now all so familiar with the iPad and other similar products that we probably forget how and where it first appeared – as a piece of science fiction on Star Trek: The Next Generation (in which it was called a Personal Access Display Device or PADD). We also take for granted the fact that we carry our personal communicators with us (AKA 'smartphones'). While faster-than-light travel and matter transporters may still be some way off, there's one other Star Trek-style device that is becoming a reality, and will completely revolutionise travel and business over the next few years – the universal translator.

A simple app for iOS from Vocre, costing only £1.99, makes multi-language conversations possible, in real time, with the ability to translate 23 languages. Speak in English, and your phone will translate and repeat the phrase in Italian, or Korean, or whatever language you choose, and also display it as text. Vocre 2.0 for iOS, currently in its Beta version, includes live translated video calling, allowing you to hold a conversation with someone on the other side of the world even if neither of you speaks a common language.

This is not the only option, of course – several are now available. SpeechTrans – also for iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) – offers an incredible 154 languages and promises 99% speech recognition accuracy, with two-way translation on the fly. It’ll even translate Facebook chats live. It also allows you to take a photo of text – anything from a printed document to a road sign – and have the text in the photo translated into your chosen language. Considering how powerful – but also how cheap – this technology is becoming, it is only a matter of time before such software is able to translate seamlessly via an earpiece, with us barely having to be aware that it is happening. Can you imagine the impact this will have on international business? Not quite a babelfish capable of translating unknown languages, but a revolution, nonetheless – and one that science fiction has dreamt of for decades.