Comment by eurleif

Comment by eurleif 3 days ago

2 replies

It's no doubt possible to have translation with less lag on average than current tools like Google Translate's Conversation Mode, but truly real-time translation is impossible because of word order differences. You can't translate a word you haven't heard yet.

jcattle 3 days ago

Reminds me of a letter to the Times regarding German word order (and the fact that the verb often comes last)

> Sir, Your reader's reference to German word order reminds me of a UN meeting at which I worked when the German delegate ranted for ages while all French eyes turned to the French interpreter booth. The interpreter witheringly interjected "j'attends le verbe".

ptero 3 days ago

But truly realtime translation is rarely (never?) critical. For streamed media there is usually enough of a buffer to handle word order swaps without delay (although one can make contrived counter-examoles), and for human interactions that delay is likely less than normal human processing time.