Comments on: iPod Translator is Music to My Ears

By: Faustino Dodridge

Faustino Dodridge — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:39:38 +0000

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By: Ipod Nano

Ipod Nano — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:24:09 +0000

Good to see they are finding new uses for the Ipod Nano everyday, this one I

By: Betsy Beamer Farner

Betsy Beamer Farner — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:25:43 +0000

The Vcommunicator was developed by an Orlando firm, Vcom3D. What they have programmed so far is just the start as I see it. I think now they need to go back to the drawing board and develop a device that can interpret what is slowly being spoken and translate it to English. I know it will be a painstaking venture, but we cetainly have the technology to do it. Maybe our military intelligence can help support this since there are so few translators in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East in general. When all else fails, it seems that complete immersion is the best way to go.

By: 22lr

22lr — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:02:31 +0000

Usefull I guess but no way near effective as learning it yourself.

By: Edward Liu

Edward Liu — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:38:54 +0000

I’ve seen lots of these iPod phrasebooks for sale in the travel section of bookstores. Searching for “ipod phrasebook” in Amazon.com turns up tons of them, though none in Arabic. It sounds like the major change here is that Vcom’s product will print the words in Arabic and they have a lightweight speaker system as well.
Are the iPod durability comments applicable to units like the iPod nano (i.e., the ones with no moving parts in them)? It doesn’t surprise me that a HD-based iPod would break quickly, but I would have thought the nanos would last longer in a combat zone with a lot fewer precautions.

By: Edward

Edward — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:41:37 +0000

I’m an infantry soldier at Fort Riley training for deployment to Iraq in May. Myself and 30 other soldiers in our Brigade were selected to participate in a full-time intensive Iraqi Arabic language course. As part of the program we were each given a Microsoft Zune which we are loading up with our own playlists as the class progresses.
I hadn’t thought of organizing the playlists based on particular scenarios, but it is a good idea.
Our ultimate goal (one it looks like we will attain) however is to communicate in these situations without any need for reference material, hardcopy or digital.
I would encourage anyone with these devices to use them to familiarize themselves with the language and not rely on them at the moments translation is needed.
While they may be useful to communicate TO an Iraqi, they won’t be much use when the Iraqi is trying to speak to the Servicemember. By listening to these phrases in their freetime, they will at least understand a few key words.

By: Penta

Penta — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 15:49:27 +0000

This raises a question: Is there a version of the iPod that’s rugged enough to stand up to military (ab)use?
Mine can’t even stand up to the light levels of abuse that come with just plain me. I’m not sure it could stand up to the abuse level of a war zone.