Jibbigo
Encyclopedia
Jibbigo is a mobile language translation application that was developed by Mobile Technologies, LLC and Dr. Alex Waibel
, a professor at Carnegie Mellon. Jibbigo is an offline voice translator, and does
not need phone or data connectivity to function. Spanish-English Jibbigo was first released in September, 2009. The company has since expanded
its offerings to include eight language pairs sold on both Apple's App Store and the Android Market
.
In Jibbigo, the user holds down a record button and says a phrase. The phrase then appears as text in both languages, and is spoken aloud in the target language. The app also includes an add name function, a background dictionary, and other features. On iOS, it is compatible with VoiceOver
for vision impaired users.
Jibbigo has captured media attention as being an important step towards the Universal Translator
. It was featured on an episode of "Popular Science - Future Of" by the Science Channel in early 2010, and, more recently, on a PBS Nova episode titled "The Smartest Machine on Earth".
Alex Waibel
Alex Waibel is a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and is the director of interACT, the International Center for Advanced Communication Technologies. Waibel's research interests focus on speech recognition and translation, and human...
, a professor at Carnegie Mellon. Jibbigo is an offline voice translator, and does
not need phone or data connectivity to function. Spanish-English Jibbigo was first released in September, 2009. The company has since expanded
its offerings to include eight language pairs sold on both Apple's App Store and the Android Market
Android Market
Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android OS devices. Its gateway is an application program called "Market", preinstalled on most Android devices, allows users to browse and download mobile apps published by third-party developers...
.
In Jibbigo, the user holds down a record button and says a phrase. The phrase then appears as text in both languages, and is spoken aloud in the target language. The app also includes an add name function, a background dictionary, and other features. On iOS, it is compatible with VoiceOver
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
for vision impaired users.
Jibbigo has captured media attention as being an important step towards the Universal Translator
Universal translator
A universal translator is a device common to many science fiction works, especially on television. First described in Murray Leinster's 1945 novella "First Contact", the translator's purpose is to offer an instant translation of any language...
. It was featured on an episode of "Popular Science - Future Of" by the Science Channel in early 2010, and, more recently, on a PBS Nova episode titled "The Smartest Machine on Earth".