新技术简化手机短信输入难题

As mobile phones reach more of India's gigantic population, one of the challenges facing both users and service providers is the country's linguistic diversity.

随着印度规模庞大的人口中有更多的人开始使用手机，用户和服务提供商都面临的挑战之一是印度语言的多样性。

The number of mobile users in India has grown explosively to more than 900 million today from about 4 million in 2001, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Most of the handsets available in the market feature qwerty keypads that are easy to use for the country's urban, English-speaking population. But these keypads could be tricky for many others in rural areas who speak only regional languages.

据印度电信监管局(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)的数据显示，印度手机用户从2001年的约400万人爆增至目前的逾9亿人。市场上出售的手机大部分使用的是传统的qwerty键盘，这种键盘对印度说英语的城市居民来说便于使用，但对很多其他只会说地方语言的农村用户来说，这样的键盘用起来颇为麻烦。

While many rural Indians who don't have fixed-line phones at home use their cellphones for voice calls, lack of support for local languages on mobile phones often prevents them from using text messages, address books, Internet browsers and other mobile applications that require them to type letters as well as numbers.

尽管印度农村很多家中没有固定电话的人使用手机打电话，但手机缺乏对地方语言的支持，用户常常无法使用短信、地址簿、互联网浏览器和其他需要输入字母和数字的手机应用程序。

India has 22 major languages, with nine different scripts. Each script is represented by scores of characters. Typing each character on a basic mobile phone involves multiple tappings on the keypad, which can be cumbersome.

印度有22个主要语种，有九种不同的文字系统。每种文字系统都有数十个字符。每个字符在一个基本款手机上进行输入时都要多次击键，输入起来往往很麻烦。

Analysts say some of the latest models of smartphones to be launched岸such as Research In Motion Ltd.'s RIM.T -3.25% BlackBerry 10岸use new technologies that make texting easier and quicker. It may be a while before such technologies are made available on affordable low-end devices.

分析人士说，一些即将推出的最新款智能手机──比如Research In Motion Ltd.(RIM)的黑莓10 (BlackBerry 10)──使用的新技术可以使输入字符变得更方便、更快捷，但这类技术在廉价低端手机上实现可能还需一段时间。

In India, one technology to support easy typing in local languages on inexpensive handsets was developed by former army officer Abhijit Bhattacharjee.

在印度，一项方便廉价手机地方语言输入的技术已经由前陆军军官巴塔查尔吉(Abhijit Bhattacharjee)开发出来。

In 2008, Mr. Bhattacharjee's start-up, Luna Ergonomics Pvt. Ltd., one of the 12 finalists for The Wall Street Journal's Asian Innovation Awards, developed a virtual keypad software for mobile phones, using predictive technology that lets users input words using their local languages.

2008年，巴塔查尔吉的初创公司Luna Ergonomics Pvt. Ltd.开发出一种手机虚拟键盘软件，使用预测技术用户可以用地方语言输入文字。该公司是入围《华尔街日报》2012年亚洲创新奖最终决赛单元的12家公司之一。

'The prevailing technology to support typing in any language on the phone was multitap,' Mr. Bhattacharjee says.

巴塔查尔吉说，现在普遍使用的支持手机语言输入的技术都是多次击键的方法。

'We wanted to reduce the efforts drastically and also support all the languages.'

他说，我们希望大幅减少击键次数，同时可以支持各种语言。

Mr. Bhattacharjee developed a virtual keypad based on software that tries to constantly predict the characters the user wants. The keypad, dubbed 'Panini Keypad,' is named after the Sanskrit grammarian Panini and allows multiple languages to be supported on a single phone.

他是根据一款能够持续预测用户所用字符的软件开发出这个虚拟键盘的。这个名为“帕尼尼键盘的键盘是以梵文语法学家(Panini)的名字命名的，可以让一部手机支持多种语言。

'Texting has not picked up in a big way in India, especially in rural areas, where multi-language support on handsets could be a differentiator,' says G. Rajeev, a senior market analyst with research firm IDC Inc.

国际数据咨询有限公司(IDC Inc.)的高级市场分析师拉杰夫(G. Rajeev)说，在印度，文本输入问题没有重大进展，尤其是在农村地区，手机多语言支持功能可能成为产品差异化的一个突破口。

The predictions are derived from mining the statistical correlation within the language. A large amount of text in each language is mined to arrive at such linguistic predictions, Mr. Bhattacharjee says.

巴塔查尔吉说，文字输入预测是通过挖掘语言内部的统计相关性得到的。为了实现这种语言学上的预测，我们对每种语言都进行了大量的文本研究。

In 2010, the company raised $500,000 from six angel investors to invest in its products. By then Luna Ergonomics had developed the software in nine major Indian languages.

2010年，Luna Ergonomics从六名天使投资人手中募集了50万美元用于投资其产品。那时，该公司已经开发出了支持九种印度当地主要语言的软件。

Pankaj Agrwal, a 52-year-old independent chartered accountant, says he finds it convenient and affordable to use the Panini Keypad to send text messages in the Hindi language, which is based on Devanagari script.

52岁的独立特许会计师Pankaj Agrwal说，他发现使用帕尼尼键盘用印地语输入信息非常方便，价格也可以承受。印地语的书写形式是以梵文为基础的。

Mr. Bhattacharjee says the company is now planning to develop software that gives a grammatical insight into the words that users input.

巴塔查尔吉说，该公司正计划开发一种对用户输入的文本进行语法分析的软件。

The virtual-keypad software is now available in 24 languages across the world, including Arabic, Russian and Swahili, Mr. Bhattacharjee says. This software can be downloaded to mobile phones for a nominal fee.

巴塔查尔吉说，这种虚拟键盘软件在全世界共有24个语言的版本，包括阿拉伯语、俄语和斯瓦西里语。用户只需支付少量费用就可以在手机上下载这一软件。

The company is also talking to several telecom-service providers in India to offer the software as a value-added service, he says, declining to elaborate.

他说，该公司还在与印度的几个电信服务供应商谈判，希望将这一软件作为增值服务提供给用户。他拒绝提供谈判的更多细节。

In June, Luna Ergonomics also struck a licensing partnership with MoMagic Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a software company in which Taiwanese chip maker MediaTek Inc. 2454.TW +3.51% holds a minority stake.

今年6月，Luna Ergonomics还与MoMagic Technologies Pvt. Ltd.建立了授权合作伙伴关系。台湾芯片制造商联发科技股份有限公司(MediaTek Inc.)拥有MoMagic Technologies Pvt. Ltd.的少数股权。

MoMagic makes the language software compatible with MediaTek chip sets. The partnership aims to sell this software to those low-end handset suppliers that use the MediaTek chip sets. The low-end device makers have already flooded the Indian cellphone market with a number of inexpensive handsets.

MoMagic可以使语言软件与联发科技的芯片组兼容。Luna Ergonomics与MoMagic建立合作关系是为了把这一软件销售给使用联发科技的芯片组的低端手机供应商。低端设备制造商已经大批涌入印度手机市场，并推出了一些价格便宜的手机。

'In the Indian context, local languages are critical,' says Arun Gupta, the founder and chief executive of MoMagic. He says the company decided to partner with Luna Ergonomics to tap into the market for low-end handsets, which are largely sold in areas where regional languages are spoken.

MoMagic的联合创始人、首席执行长古普塔(Arun Gupta)说，在印度，地方语言非常重要。他说，公司决定与Luna Ergonomics共同开发低端手机市常低端手机主要在讲地方语言的地区销售。

But IDC's Mr. Rajeev says that basic cellphones available in the market today aren't capable of porting such additional software. 'Their processor capacities are often found wanting when performing scaled-up functions,' he says.

但是IDC的拉杰夫说，如今市场上可以买到的手机的基本型号还不能安装这种软件，这些手机处理器的性能往往不足以支持这项附加功能。

Still, Mr. Bhattacharjee says the joint venture with MoMagic has developed a prototype of a basic cellphone that uses the chip set with embedded language software, and it runs smoothly.

尽管如此，巴塔查尔吉说，Luna Ergonomics已经与MoMagic合作开发出了一种基础手机型号的样机，该机型使用内置该语言软件的芯片组，运行很顺畅。

The partnership has also joined up with a handset supplier, who uses the MediaTek chip sets that have the language software embedded.

两者的合作还吸引到了一家手机供应商，这家手机供应商使用联发科技生产的内置这种语言软件的芯片组。