AmperorDirect Blog

Moka Chat is a new Skype application that would provide language translation when two users are chatting online using Skype Chat. I certainly have a need for it as occasionally I chat with customers from South America and my knowledge of Spanish is zilch. I have installed the beta software and used it for a few days. The software has a lot of potentials and is certainly useful for causal chat in its present form.

Installing Moka Chat was simple and I did not run into any problem.

The software offers the following translations:

• From Chinese (simplified) to English and Pinyin
• From English to Chinese (simplified), Pinyin, and Spanish
• From Spanish to English

It has two modes of operation – online and off-line.

In the online mode, Moka translates the text you entered and sends both the original and its translation to your friend; however any incoming text is not translated. To carry out a two-way conversation with two different languages, both parties need to have the software. This is really the only reason why I cannot use this software when chatting with customers.

In the off-line mode, Moka Chat acts as a translator; it simply translates any input text.

My initial impression

• The quality of translation is decent and understandable, though not perfect.
• Depending on the input, translation can be slow (over 15 seconds). For one particular input, the software crashed.
• There is some stability issue. On occasions, I lost the application window. When I clicked on the icon again, it returned an error message saying that the application was already running.
• The user interface is just OK.

Translation Examples

I compared the translation from Moka Chat against Google Translate and you can be your own judge.

Example 1

Original text in English:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech on national security to a prominent conservative lawyers’ organization.

Moka Chat in Spanish:

Fiscal General Michael Mukasey inconsciente mientras se dabaun discurso sobre seguridad nacional a un prominente conservador abogados’ organización.

Google Translate in Spanish:

Fiscal General Michael Mukasey se derrumbó, mientras que dar un discurso sobre la seguridad nacional a un prominente conservador abogados organización.

Moka Chat in Chinese:

司法部长迈克尔Mukasey在在国家安全上给一次讲话到一个突出的保守的律师的组织时病倒。

Google Translate in Chinese:

总检察长迈克尔Mukasey同时倒塌的讲话对国家安全的一个突出保守的律师组织。

Example 2

Original text in English:

Today is a very good day for tackling any major clean up projects you’ve been putting off — including picking up clutter around the house, organizing your office cubicle, or clearing up a misunderstanding between you and a friend.

Moka Chat in Spanish:

Hoy es un buen día para abordar cualquier gran limpiar proyectos has sido posponiendo — incluyendo recogiendo el desorden alrededor de la casa, organizar su oficina cubículo, o compensación un malentendido entre usted y un amigo.

Google Translate in Spanish:

Hoy es un muy buen día para hacer frente a importantes proyectos de limpieza que ha sido puesta fuera – incluyendo recoger el desorden alrededor de la casa, la organización de su cubículo de oficina, o aclarar un malentendido entre usted y un amigo.

Moka Chat in Chinese:

今天主要干净处理的任何的非常好日子向上是你一直推迟的工程– 包括上升在房子周围弄乱，组织你的办公室小室，或者解决在你和一位朋友之间的一个误会。

Google Translate in Chinese:

今天是一個非常好的一天處理任何重大的清理項目你已經推遲-包括加快雜波各地的房子，安排您的辦公房間，或清理誤解你和朋友。