Update 1: see at the end, before the video.
Update 2: see at the end, before the video.
Sakhr one of the oldest Arabic software companies that was founded in 1982, has officially launched today one of its break-through technologies, the Arabic Language Buddy™ for iPhone. This speech-activated translator enables Real-Time, interactive English to Arabic translation that enhances language learning, cultural exchange and foreign travel assistance. Users can speak or type any English sentence, view the Arabic translation, and hear it played out loud.
The app is useful to a wide range of people including Arabic language students, the millions of people traveling to the Arab world for business or leisure, the millions of expats living in the Arab world, US security personnel and for 10s of thousands of the US occupying forces in the Arab region. It will also be useful to the US president Mr. Barak Hussein Obama whenever he meets with any of the Arab leaders 
.
Arabic Language Buddy™ for iPhone is launched after Sakhr’s acquisition of USA, Silicon Valley based startup, Dial Directions , a voice-activated phone service for driving directions.
Sakhr’s Arabic Language Buddy app makes live English to Arabic spoken communication possible with next-generation technology for speech recognition, machine translation, and text-to-speech. The Arabic language learning application features the following capabilities:
· Accepts “free form” dictation of U.S. English, no user training needed
· Translates into Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)
· High accuracy translation, ranked #1 by U.S. government metrics and human evaluation.
· Translation displayed as Arabic script and English transliteration
· Audio playback of Arabic
· Optional keypad entry
· Recent translations stored for easy access and practice
· Supports iPhone 3.0x and iPod Touch (second generation) with external microphone.
The app is available on the iTunes store here for $9.99 download fee for first month. After 30 days, subscription renewals are priced at $49.99 per month for academic users and $149.99 per month for other users, with discounts for semester and 1-year sign-up. (Previously stored translations remain available without subscription renewal.)
( Update1: the app price is ridiculously too expensive, even more expensive than many mobile handsets!!! thus it will be out of reach for many people.)
Update 2:
- Arabic Language Buddy requires a 3G or WiFi connection to operate and compute the translation on the cloud. If a network connection is not available, users can use the “Recents” page and re-use those translations if applicable.
- Arabic Language Buddy may support other mobile devices in the future. For government and business customers, Sakhr’s Mobile S2S bi-directional English-Arabic translator application is currently available on the iPhone and BlackBerry Bold.
Here is a demo video of the app: