This gadget translates multi-lingual conversations

NETHERLANDS-based startup Travis is out to make people understood no matter what language they speak.

Travis was at the Consumer Electronics Show here late Tuesday with a small device capable of translating conversations between people speaking different languages in real time.

“Technology connects us as far as we are accessible to each other, but those true connections aren’t going to happen until we all understand and are understood by each other,” US Travis representative Robb Selander told AFP while demonstrating the gizmo at a CES event.

“We are driven to break down language barriers.”

Travis synchs to computing in the cloud to translate any combination of 80 languages, and a Travis foundation is working to ‘digitise’ lesser known languages in the world.

“Once a language is digitised it can not only be used in translation technology like Travis but for education and preservation,” said company international affairs manager Elissa Glorie.

Digitising languages also means that those who speak it could get better shots at reaping benefits of technology advances such as voicecommanded computers or virtual assistants, according to Glorie.

Travis was founded early last year and launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in April that blew past the company’s goal. — AFP