BBC started using automatic translation of reports

The British television corporation BBC has announced the use of technology to automatically translate text into other languages ​​and voice synthesis. This system will be used to automatically translate company reports into languages ​​other than English.

In the current version of the system, the existing video report script is automatically translated into another language. First of all, BBC programmers added Japanese. Next in line is Russian. Judging by the frames from the video describing the new system, the next number will be Spanish. In a press release it is mentioned that third-party operating time is used for the system to work. A specialist from the BBC said that now Google Translate is used to translate the text.

Then the editor corrects errors in the automatic translation of the text. While this is inevitable - from experience, the automatic translation from English into Russian is currently obtained of a very mediocre quality, not least because of the complexity of the Russian language. Then the edited text script is processed by the voice synthesis system (the editor selects a voice suitable for the news from several options), and the resulting voice-over computer voice is superimposed on the video report.



It is planned that a little later the script text will be automatically added to the video in the form of subtitles. The entire project is considered pilot and its testing will last until April 2016.

“I am excited about this test. At the BBC, journalism is one of the best in the world, and our correspondents are scattered across the globe, ”boasts James Montgomery, director of digital technology at BBC News. “Such technologies mean that our international journalism will become available to more people.”

This technology looks like it is threatening to take jobs from people translators and broadcasters. But according to a company representativeIt is primarily aimed at freeing journalists from administrative tasks and allowing them to engage directly in journalism.

The BBC is the oldest national broadcasting organization: it was founded in 1922. Today's weekly audience of BBC International Broadcasting Corporation totals 283 million people .