Johnston police break language barrier
General translation
March 11, 2008
By JULI PROBASCO-SOWERS
The Johnston Police Department's new assistant speaks nine languages.
SpeechGuard is a multilingual hand-held translator expected to help police officers break language barriers. The city was able to purchase the device with a $950 donation from Wells Fargo.
The device will allow voice translation in Spanish, Korean, Polish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Farsi, Japanese, Arabic and Russian, Lt. Lynn Aswegan said. It can be programmed to recite specific phrases in these languages and translate simple spoken phrases. The software includes language dictionaries and gives notes on various cultures.