The South Tyrolean interpreter
A bridge to intercultural communication in South Tyrol
South Tyrol is a unique region where German, Italian and Ladin meet. In addition, there are still many new citizens who are trying to reach an understanding. On the one hand, this linguistic and cultural diversity is an asset, but on the other hand, it also represents a significant challenge for communication. Misunderstandings and language barriers are commonplace, which can cause tensions and ambiguities both in private and professional life. In a society that depends on understanding and cooperation, the question is: How can we ensure that our messages are understood clearly and respectfully?
Digital communication: An additional hurdle
Digital communication often further exacerbates these problems. There is often a harsh tone in the comment areas of online magazines and social media. Polemics, polarization and lack of politeness determine the discourse. Instead of dialogue, the focus is on confrontation, which makes communication even more difficult. There is a lack of tools to help us promote respectful and constructive communication. This would be particularly important in an environment such as South Tyrol, where different cultural backgrounds meet.
Understanding South Tyrol: A bridge to understanding
This is where the “Südtirol Versteher” comes in, an innovative application that is intended to act as a bridge between cultures. This solution goes beyond simple translations and offers an in-depth analysis of texts in the main languages German and Italian. The application reflects on spoken words, translates them and analyses them according to criteria such as politeness, sympathy and general impact. In this way, it helps to make messages clear and sensitive, avoid misunderstandings and achieve a positive effect on the recipient. This feature is particularly valuable for anyone who regularly needs to communicate in multiple languages in their everyday life and wants to ensure that their messages are understood correctly.
How does the Südtirol Understand work?
With the application, you can easily dictate texts, even in dialect. With AI support, the spoken word is transcribed, translated and analysed according to various criteria such as courtesy, sympathy and general impact. This feedback should help the user to design communication in such a way that it is received effectively and positively by the recipient. The ability to copy transcribed texts, send them directly by e-mail or have them read aloud by a voice output in the respective language is particularly valuable.
Just try it out!
http://app.bcommonslab.org/suedtirolversteher
Open Source - What's happening in the background?
This application is a prototype. It can be used free of charge and anonymously. The entered data is not saved. For processing, they are sent anonymously to an OpenAI web service.
As a programmer, it is particularly interesting how you can communicate in prose with these large language models. Here is an example:
role.user.content = {
“Eindruck_D”: “The impression that the text leaves in German”.
“Impression_I”: “The impression that the text leaves in Italian”.
“Politeness”: “A number between 0% and 100%, where 100% is very polite and 0% is very impolite.”
“Sympathy”: “A number between 0% and 100%, where 100% is very likeable and 0% is very unsympathetic.”
“Praising”: “A number between 0% and 100%, where 100% is praising at all and 0% is very insulting”
“Word choice”: “A number between 0% and 100%, where 100% has a very good choice of words and 0% has a very poor choice of words”
}
The text that is transferred with this instruction is analyzed by the system in accordance with these specifications and returns the result as an answer. The answers and values generated should of course always be treated with caution, but they show how large language models can be used to give us orientation and express perceived orders of magnitude in numbers. But it is slowly becoming clear why computer science can be described as a spiritual science;)
In order to meet 100% privacy requirements, the application and LLM could also run locally - without a connection to the Internet. In the end, it's just math, a technical challenge and a matter of time.
More information here:
https://github.com/bCommonsLAB/Suedtirol-Versteher
A vision for the future of communication
Imagine a future in which our digital communication with “lane assistants” promotes respectful and constructive communication and does not discriminate as it does today. By identifying potentially problematic phrases at an early stage, this application could help prevent cyberbullying and improve the overall tone of communication. This opens up the opportunity to turn digital platforms into places of genuine dialogue and understanding.
Call to Action - Get involved and help shape the future
The project is still in the prototype stage, and that's where your chance comes in. We are looking for people who would like to actively participate in the development of an understanding of South Tyrol. It is particularly important to build up your own corpus of texts in order to make the analysis even more precise and trustworthy. If we use artificial intelligence wisely, we can create valuable support for human decision-making processes together.
Be there and help us shape the future of intercultural communication!
