Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Development of a Multilingual Translation Service for
Interpretations and Usage Examples of Mobile Phone
Pictograms
Seiya Tanaka, Aika Nakakubo, Momoki Kimura, Kazuya Takeda,
and Tomoko Koda
Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Osaka Institute of Technology
1-79-1 Kitayama, Hirakata-shi, Osaka, 573-0196 Japan
+ 81 72 866 5182
koda@is.oit.ac.jp
Abstract.
To find mobile phone pictograms that have age-specific or gender-
specific differences of interpretations, we surveyed 276 Japanese mobile phone
users and compiled over 6,600 of their interpretations and usage examples for
these pictograms. We used these reported pictogram interpretations and usage
examples to develop a prototype of a web-based age-specific pictogram
dictionary application that can be searched and viewed by specifying the
pictogram, age group, and/or gender as search conditions. By applying
Language Grid machine translation services to this application, we developed a
web-based service that translates these pictogram interpretations and usage
examples into several languages. This multilingual translation service for our
age-specific pictogram dictionary enables the pictogram interpretations and
usage examples reported by the Japanese survey respondents to be presented to
foreign residents of Japan. It should help expedite and facilitate communication
on mobile phones across different languages and cultures.
Keywords:
pictogram, cell phone, mobile communication, intercultural
communication, machine translation, web service computing, Language Grid.
1 Introduction
The rapid growth of telecommunications technology in recent years has resulted in a
rapid rise in popularity of mobile media such as mobile phones and PHS terminals.
The Japanese now consider the mobile phone an indispensable tool for daily life. A
MyVoice Communications survey found that 95.0% of Japan's population use mobile
phones, 94.5% of mobile phone users send and receive email by mobile phone, and
69.6% of these email users use pictograms in their email [1].
Users conveying information by means of communication tools such as email or
chat often tend to misunderstand the emotional content of messages when they rely on
text to express emotions or subtle nuances that in a face-to-face conversation would
be expressed and conveyed nonverbally by means such as facial expressions, body
language and tone of voice [2, 3]. So users often use pictograms as a way to convey
