Documents don’t need to get lost in translation any
longer. Xerox just introduced a machine-based service that
automatically translates text into another language as it’s copying.
The machine translation is part of Xerox’s cloud-based Easy Translator Service,
and it’s as easy as scanning the document into one of the company’s
ConnectKey-enabled multifunction printers. If you don’t have access to
one, you can upload documents to the mobile app.
Xerox’s service lists 44 supported languages, including country-specific dialects, and works for more than 20 document formats.
After a complimentary 30 pages during a month-long trial, subscription levels start at $10 for 10 pages, Engadget reported. A bulk package of $5,000 for 100,000 pages will be available next month, a rep for Xerox told me.
Here’s a video showing the machine-translation process, terrible French accent and all:
Full disclosure: I’ve muttered epithets at many a photocopier.
And this is from someone who has experienced fewer problems sending
lengthy faxes and operating a microfilm machine.
It’s so easy to overlook something. I’ll get the orientation
right and then a legal-sized sheet that only copied one corner the
original document will shoot out. Or it’ll be color even though I swore I
selected black and white.
Automated translation can also be an exercise in frustration.
While online translators like Google Translate do well with a word or
short phrase, capable language translation on longer texts still
requires human brains.
Fortunately Xerox recognizes those limitations. In addition to
the machine-translation, the company offers professional translation
services on a per-word basis.