An experimental bidirectional Japanese/English interpreting video phone system using Internet

We report on an experimental bidirectional Japanese/English interpreting video phone system using Internet. We particularly emphasize the motivation for this work, the task, and the experiments conducted. Using in-house technology developed both in Japan and in the United States, we demonstrate an Internet home shopping application where an American shop assistant and a Japanese customer engage in task directed dialogues, using their native languages. The experiments show that when users are familiar with the application language, a natural interaction can be obtained