People who use different languages but want to communicate with one another have a few options to make that happen. They can learn a new language. They can call on the services of a human interpreter. Or they can use a book or an automated solution like Google (News 
- Alert) Translate. But all of the above options can be expensive, time-consuming, clunky, or some combination of the three.
A better option, suggests Ike Sagie, Lexifone founder and CEO, is to use Lexifone 2 – his company’s new phone-based automated, asynchronous language translation service.
Unveiled today, Lexifone 2 offers natural and real-time translation for several major languages and dialects. Those include English (Australian, U.K. and U.S. versions), French (Canadian and European), German, Hebrew, Italian, Mandarin (Chinese and Taiwanese), Portuguese (Brazilian and European), Russian, and Spanish (European and Mexican).
While Lexifone’s original translation service via phone required users to pause between sentences, keep individual utterances to a certain length, and push keypad buttons to switch languages based on the speaker at any particular time, Lexifone 2 processes voice as it hits the airwaves and doesn’t require speakers to change their voice patterns or stop to press buttons along the way. Sagie said the service is based on a patented technology that leverages computation linguistics/linguistic optimization.
“Our goal will always be to come closer and closer to translated speech that mimics exactly the way we speak and hear conversation in our native tongue,” said Sagie. “Lexifone 2 is a leap forward in this direction. Nothing like this has ever been available on the market, and we’ll continue to improve its performance and add features.”
The service can be used in consumer or business settings, but Lexifone is targeting its sales and marketing efforts at small businesses and organizations such as government agencies, hotels, importer/exporters, law offices, and others. The service is sold through Lexifone’s website and through major telephone companies, which Sagie declined to name.
“One very big telco in Europe has already signed an agreement, but it is still confidential,” Sagie told TMCnet. “We are in very advanced stages of agreements with a couple more.”
Before the end of 2013, he said, Lexifone will likely be able to announce a couple major worldwide operator partners.
To use the service, visit www.lexifone.com, select and purchase a plan, dial the access number published by Lexifone, select the language, and enter the destination phone number. The other party does not have to be a Lexifone subscriber. (Sagie added that while NTT (News - Alert) DoCoMo offers a similar translation service in Japan, both parties must be NTT subscribers to use that.)
While Lexifone customers can access the service from any wireline or wireless phone, the company now also offers an Android (News - Alert) mobile apps that allows for direct calling to the service from the user’s contact list. An iOS mobile app is in the works.
Lexifone offers two plans for consumers. One is a prepaid plan that costs $10 upfront and has per minute fees ranging from 20 to 40 cents a minute, based on the destination of the calls. The other involves a $10 per month fee with per minute charges in the 12 to 20 cent range. The Lexifone service available via carrier partners will sell for around $25 per month for unlimited use, according to Sagie. Lexifone also provides a straight international calling service, which doesn’t have to include the translation component.
Edited by Cassandra Tucker
