{"id":6825,"date":"2018-10-17T10:50:20","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T17:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/translation\/?p=6825"},"modified":"2019-03-15T09:36:01","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T16:36:01","slug":"rochester-institute-of-technology-uses-microsoft-translator-to-break-communication-barriers-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https://www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/translator/blog\/2018\/10\/17\/rochester-institute-of-technology-uses-microsoft-translator-to-break-communication-barriers-on-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Rochester Institute of Technology Uses Microsoft Translator to Break Communication Barriers on Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"
Imagine you\u2019re on a college campus and have a job interview in 5 minutes. You\u2019re a bit lost, so you stop to ask the next person you see for directions. You realize that the person you\u2019ve asked is hard-of-hearing, and he opens his backpack for a pen and paper. By the time he\u2019s explained in writing where your next class is, you\u2019re 10 minutes late.<\/p>\n
Now, imagine you walk up to the same person, but now they have the Microsoft Translator app installed on their phone \u2013 displaying your spoken words in text, and giving him the ability to type his response.<\/p>\n
This is exactly what\u2019s happening on-campus at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT): Students and faculty are promoting the use of Microsoft Translator to break communication barriers on campus, in and outside of the classroom.<\/p>\n
RIT has pioneered the use of Microsoft Translator in the classroom<\/a><\/span>, and recently created a \u201cMicrosoft Translator for RIT\u201d webpage explaining the benefits of the app as a \u201ccompanion tool\u201d. To illustrate how the app can be used on campus, RIT created a few videos of scenarios where the Microsoft Translator app can be of benefit to the student population.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Once I knew about Microsoft Translator, I realized I can use that back at home, during family dinners, and then I also can use it for study groups with my friends. In the future, I can also use it for my job. Because communication is very important for all of us and we just want to be together, and not feel left out.” –\u00a0<\/em>Amanda Bui, Mobile Applications Development major, National Technical Institute for the Deaf<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Microsoft Translator has partnered with RIT\u2019s Center for Access Technology on the Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) Project \u2013 the transcription of spoken language to readable text using AI-based technology.<\/p>\n Speech customization using Azure\u2019s Custom Speech Service<\/a><\/span> is a huge part of the project \u2013 giving teachers access to custom speech models that recognize specific terminology, such as scientific terms and place names.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “The custom speech recognition is critical for capturing vocabulary words that wouldn\u2019t be necessarily conventional in everyday life. For example, the terminology that you would see in a biology class. We were able to feed key words into the classroom models.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Brian Trager, Associate Director, RIT\u2019s National Technical institute for the Deaf<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To learn all the ways that Microsoft Translator is used in RIT\u2019s academic setting, visit NTID\u2019s Translator app page<\/a><\/span> and the Automatic Speech Recognition project page<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n To learn how you can use Microsoft Translator for Education, visit our Education page<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Imagine you\u2019re on a college campus and have a job interview in 5 minutes. You\u2019re a bit lost, so you stop to ask the next person you see for directions. You realize that the person you\u2019ve asked is hard-of-hearing, and he opens his backpack for a pen and paper. By the time he\u2019s explained in writing where your next class….<\/span><\/p>\n