This summer, when choir members and fans from around the world descend on Cincinnati for the
World Choir Games, they’ll discover a new way to transcend the language barrier called Globili, the brainchild of MidPoint/Fountain Square/Bunbury developer Bill Donabedian.
All you need is a mobile device to send a text message or scan a QR code located on signs around the city. Globili translates the signs or other written materials – think menus – into a wide range of languages and dialects.
Since it uses texts as well as QR codes, the service is not intendedonly for smart phone users. “With people coming from all across the world, we don’t know what devices they’ll be using,” says Globili co-founder Ran Mullins. “Ninety-eight percent of cellphones have text messaging.”
Even your six-year-old cellphone, held together with duct tape, can make use of Globili, so long as it is able to send and receive text messages. Users text the numbers marked on Globili signs and indicate their preferred language. They are then texted the newly translated information.
“As long as people have mobile devices, Globili has a place in the market,” says Donabedian. Globili can translate from a pool of languages with a dedicated database that is easily managed by clients who wish to update and edit how they want their signs to be read.
“Wouldn’t you rather, as a business or city, appear to be more welcoming?” asks Donabedian.
Globili is free to users in need of translations and is being tested now on Fountain Square, where 45 signs can be translated into more than 200 languages. So far, some of the most requested languages for translation include Latvian and three Chinese dialects.
Based on the Google Translate engine, Globili simplifies the experience into a single query that does not require users to painstakingly write out each word in sentences.“Translation is just a piece of it,” Donabedian says. “It’s about taking static content -- a sign. We’re working to make that more dynamic. When you start to think of that type of impact, you can find out what languages are being most used, where and at what time.”
By collecting the requested languages on an individual user basis, Globili plans on collecting plenty of analytical language data. Clients will be able to determine which languages their customers use and adjust their accommodations accordingly.
By Sean Peters
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