Iraqcomm: a next generation translation system
Kristin Precoda, Jing Wen Zheng, Dimitra Vergyri, Horacio Franco, Colleen Richey, Andreas Kathol, Sachin S. Kajarekar · 2007
Abstract This paper describes the IraqComm translation system developed by SRI International, with components from Language Weaver, Inc., and Cepstral, LLC. IraqComm, supported by the DARPA Translation Systems for Tactical Use (TRANSTAC) program, mediates and translates spontaneous conversations between an English speaker and a speaker of colloquial Iraqi Arabic. It is trained to handle topics of tactical importance, including force protection, checkpoint operations, civil affairs, basic medical interviews, and training. Major components of the system include SRI's DynaSpeak speech recognizer, Gemini, SRInterp, and Language Weaver translation engines, Cepstral's Swift speech synthesis engine, and the user interface. The system runs on standard Windows computers and can be used in a variety of modes, including an eyes-free, nearly hands-free mode. Index Terms : speech translation, spoken language translation system, user interface 1. Introduction This paper describes the IraqComm translation system developed under the DARPA Translation Systems for Tactical Use (TRANSTAC) program. IraqComm mediates and translates spontaneous, real-time conversations between an English speaker and a speaker of colloquial Iraqi Arabic. It is trained to handle topics of tactical importance, including force protection, checkpoint operations, civil affairs, basic medical interviews, and training. The major components of the system are described below and include the speech recognizer, translation engines, speech synthesis engine, and user interface. An excerpt of a sample dialog using the system during a NIST evaluation in February 2007 is shown and discussed.