Text to speech

I am looking into methods in which I will be able to have translated text, go into speech, through the use of text to speech technology. I’m looking at some other apps available on the market, to see how their software works, then I can come up with a  solid idea on how my app work in maybe a similar way. for example I’m currently looking at the app Natural reader. The feature of the app is the read highlighted text in PDF documents, webpages and word documents. this is a widely useable app. I like the apps idea of highlighting text to specific parts to the the user.

I think the way I could include this into my app for example, say you take a picture with your phone, the OCR then translates that text into english, you are then able to high light parts of the text and have it read it to you. You can also have it read the untranslated text in english and the original language. Using the text to speech you will also be able to type out a sentence, then have that text read aloud in a language of your choosing, for people with trouble pronouncing words.

Im also looking into some more OCR technology apps, to go along with my idea of taking pictures and having the text translated for you. I feel as if this will be doable with technology available on on smart phones right now.

https://www.naturalreaders.com/app/

NaturalReader-iOS-Reader

Word Lens

Word Lens is an application that provides real time translations on your iOS device by using its camera.

Lost in translation?

Traveling to another country without speaking the language is nerve wracking. While Word Lens won’t teach you to speak a new language, it will enable you to read it at the very least. Word Lens uses your iOS device’s camera to detect text and automatically translate words and sentences on the fly.

Packs sold separately

While Word Lens is free, there are no language packs included. Instead, Word Lens lets users see how the application works by reversing or replacing words. While this is an impressive tech demo, it renders Word Lens useless without purchasing a language pack. Languages can be purchased within the app. As of this review, the  languages available are Spanish, Italian, French, German, Russian, and Portuguese.

There is a dictionary within the application to look up words that the app fails to translate properly or if you just want to find a word’s definition quickly, without using the camera. This is great feature but the definitions that it provided were a hit or miss.

Great for foreign trips

Word Lens is an impressive tech demo of what the program can actually do but it is a shame it doesn’t show you its translation prowess before deciding to purchase a language pack


 

Word Lens is an app similar to something to my design, unfortunately the app was the bought out by google in 2014, and was integrated into google translate.

I want to use this technology in my app by using smartphone cameras optical camera recognition software, i believe with the more recent releases of phones, cameras will be able to give better and more accurate translations. This will make the TransPal a mix of both an augmented reality app and a conventional app. I think for my app I will also take the idea of locking certain translations packs that can be purchased, but the main languages like EU languages will be free of charge to use. This way the app will generate money alongside revenue for minor ads.

 

What my idea is.

My idea for this project is to create an translation app, named TransPal, a on hand translation app readily available in any country and any smart phone.

The key idea for this project is that this app allows the use of the camera. By pointing your camera at a sign or poster, the app will search for key characters and letters with in the reticle of the camera and give a live translation of the app that is readable in english, this is the main feature of the app.

Other features of the app will, include a library of other languages selectable for the user to read through and find words they are looking for like that of a translation book. The third future of my app will include a text to speech option, you input the text in english and choose the language in which you wish for it to be translated into to, it will the read the translated text into that language so it doesn’t require you to know a full knowledge of the language of the country you are visiting. The app will be Free to both iPhone and android users and will generate money from ads to keep the app afloat.

This app will be a travel friendly app to native english speakers and will make a great companion for travellers and holiday goers, it will do away with the need for translation guides and make for a more accessible substitute.

Struggling with ideas

I have looked at some of EYA (european youth awards) categories although this has given me a lot of places to work in, i’m not entirely sure what kind of problem I want to tackle. I have thought about taking on the educational category but i’m unclear on what kind of problem to solve within that category. I think further time to ponder on this is needed. hopefully in tomorrows workshop, I can perhaps come up with some ideas, whilst sharing and bouncing ideas off others.

https://eu-youthaward.org/timeline-for-action/categories/