OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and a governmental research firm said Friday they have developed a two-way Japanese-English speech translation system usable on notebook PCs.
The companies claim it is the first time a two-way speech translation system has been developed for use on personal computers.
The system covers conversations in 20 situations likely to occur during travel -- at shops, hotels and restaurants, for instance -- and can translate 4,000 words.
Yoshiori Sagisaka of Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), Matsushita's governmental partner, said the system can translate real speech used in everyday conversations.
But computers' central processing units will have to improve before the system can be put to market, Matsushita officials say, noting the many hurdles that remain.
Matsushita is hoping to make the software viable on smaller systems so people can use it easily in shops, restaurants or on the street.