South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute has developed voice recognition-based translation technology for nine languages, the institute announced Tuesday.

A user first chooses one of nine languages: Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Arabic. When a phrase is spoken in Korean, text appears in both Korean and the chosen language. 

So far, the algorithms for each language show a maximum of 95 percent in accuracy for casual conversations, the institute said.

The institute touts itself as the only organization in Korea that owns data on the largest number -- nine -- of languages in the country, including phrases that are directly available for translation from one language to another.

ETRI’s intelligence information research division used its deep learning tech for the analysis of immense data about each language in order to develop the language intelligent algorithms.

In addition, the institute said it has secured technologies on big data refinement and the pronunciation of multiple languages, which could help expansion of the latest tech to the languages of Southeast Asian countries and even Hindi.

The tech will help Korean electronics enterprises that are planning to jump into the global market for smart devices with voice recognizing features.

“The latest tech is superior in Korean to Google’s similar tech, while it is similar to the Google level with other languages,” said Kim Sang- hoon, head of the project at ETRI. “Considering the recent trending voice recognition in electronics, this tech could help local firms develop artificial intelligence assistant programs, AI-based translators and automatic programs for connected cars.”

The institute plans to transfer the voice-based translation tech to local mobile carriers, internet firms and other related developers.

It is currently testing the translator with Genie Talk, a translator app co-developed with Korean software mogul Hancom, with an aim to provide the voice-recognizing translation service for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

ETRI plans to expand the service to 14 languages by 2020, eyeing the Tokyo Olympics.

By Song Su-hyun  (song@heraldcorp.com)