The present invention discloses a speech-to-
speech translation device which allows one or more users to input a spoken
utterance in one language, translates the
utterance into one or more second languages, and outputs the translation in speech form. Additionally, the device allows for translation both directions, recognizing inputs in the one or more second languages and translating them back into the
first language. The device recognizes and translates utterances in a limited domain as in a
phrase book
translation system, so the translation accuracy is essentially 100%. By limiting the domain the
system increases the accuracy of the
speech recognition component and thus the accuracy of the overall
system. However unlike other
phrase book systems, the device also allows wide variations and paraphrasing in the input, so that the user is much more likely to find the desired
phrase from the stored
list of phrases. The device paraphrases the input to a basic canonical form and performs the translation on that canonical form, ignoring the non-essential variations in the surface form of the input. The device can provide visual and / or
auditory feedback to confirm the recognized input and makes the
system usable for non-bilingual users with absolute confidence.