EDUCATION News

--  https://rumble.com/v4w0gex-new-smartphone-dictionary-app-to-help-n.-korean-defectors.html  --
--  https://www.nknews.org/2015/03/bridging-the-app-south-north-korean-translator-launched/    --
--  https://borgenproject.org/univoca/    --
North Korean defectors are Koreans who have fled North Korea seeking asylum in South Korea or other nations, mainly due to “political, ideological and economic reasons.” When North Korean defectors flee to South Korea, one particular challenge they endure is the language barrier. The two Koreas once shared a common language, but after years of conflict, the languages today are much different. The Univoca app, designed in South Korea’s capital city of Seoul, is a South Korean-North Korean translator app that has proven useful for learning new vocabulary to helps bridge the linguistic divide. Bridging the linguistic divide helps North Korean defectors better transition to living in South Korea.

Korean Dialects

The North Korean language has always remained the same. It is known as Chosŏnŏ, whereas Hangugeo is the language of South Korea. The alphabet is the same but there are visual variations in terms of spacing, connection and appearance. Some words look completely different but most of the difference is in the dialect and pronunciation.

The developing democratic nation of South Korea frequently pokes fun at the northern dialect in comedy acts for seeming “quaint or old-fashioned. The government of the north, is of a hereditary nature as it is a family dictatorship that some often call a “hereditary dictatorship.” North Korea does not allow anything to stray from its traditional and conservative history. Defectors that have fled to South Korea often flee in a desperate attempt to leave their pasts behind them and begin a new life that does not involve dictatorship. Univoca, short for unification vocabulary, helps bridge linguistic barriers.

After the arduous journey to South Korea, many defectors describe the struggle with the language to be one of the biggest hardships. North Koreans can only understand about half of the language in South Korea. Defectors compare the transition to learning an entirely new language. Although they are eager to start a new life, the language barrier makes transitioning difficult.

The Univoca Translation App

South Korean teachers are hopeful that the Univoca app will help new defector students better understand their learning material. This, in turn, should help them progress in their educational endeavors. Univoca offers some independence from constantly relying on others to teach and translate the language.

The developers of Univoca’s dictionary deliberately and considerably chose the first 3,600 words of Univoca’s dictionary. Co-developer, Jang Jong-chul said, “We first showed this typical South Korean grammar textbook to a class of teenage defectors who picked out the unfamiliar words.” The creators also consulted older North Korean people to help with producing accurate translations.

Univoca users are able to type in the unknown word or scan a photo of it with a cellphone camera. The app then produces the appropriate translation. Univoca also offers commonly used phrases to guide users through basic activities such as ordering food off of a menu or asking for directions. Subscribers are able to add suggestions of words that they would like Univoca to add to the dictionary. This leaves room for a continually growing translation app.

The Univoca translation app is a simple solution with a tremendous impact. Univoca helps North Koreans transition to life in South Korea by offering assistance with the linguistic barriers that present themselves.

– Sarah Ottosen
Photo: Flickr 

--  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_UITX3Yh-c  -- 26 jul 2017  ---
--  네이버 '파파고', 정식 서비스 오픈...  --
-- Naver launches its official version of translation service, Papago --
--  https://linguasia.com/language-index  --

--  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_UITX3Yh-c  -- 26 jul 2017  ---
--  네이버 '파파고', 정식 서비스 오픈...  --
--  Naver launches its official version of translation service, Papago  --
Translating from one language to another is quite a painstaking job.  --  

But now it may take a little less effort,... as Korea's biggest web portal, Naver has launched a new software that will make the translation process smoother and more accurate.

Our  Won Jung-hwan has this story. --    When it comes to translating from one language to another, computer software is undeniably faster than humans. But the translations it produces can be awkward at best and, sometimes, completely incomprehensible,...   --  That is why programmers and developers are taking strides to develop software that can overcome these limitations. --  "This speedy and convenient software is called 'Papago'... Korean tech giant Naver officially launched its latest translation service last week, about a year after of its trial service came online".  --  This latest version of Papago has not only increased its character limit to 5,000, but also has an enhanced Neural Machine Translation service.  ---   Whereas previous systems translated sentences word-by-word, this new neural technology looks at the word in context, using the words around it to help with the translation.

In addition, the latest system learns from its mistakes... so the more you use it,
the smarter the translations get.  --  

"There are a lot of good databases to learn, and it is our goal to steadily expand this database within
the AI translation. Since there is a lot of previous data and advanced equipment for machine translation, I expect that machine translators can be more accurate than the ordinary human standard in the next eight years."  --  

  Rapidly improving AI technology is revolutionizing computer-based translation systems.

However, translation requires more than just advanced technology.

Experts say such skills still require human intuition and cultural understanding as well as contextual information,   so it'll be a while before we see AI replace human interpreters and translators completely.

Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News 
--  https://linguasia.com/language-index  --
-- 
7 Best Korean Translator Apps 

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Categories

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--  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAtkCSKnrr0  -- 12 sep 2020 -- #StudyKorean #LearnKorean #KoreanVocabulary --
--  Hello, today I will introduce two Korean websites that can help your Korean study.  --

1. Naver dictionary: You can find words and listen to its pronunciation.

2. Papago translator: It's made by a Korean company(Naver) so the Korean translation is

    very natural and accurate compared to Google's. You can also listen to the pronunciation

    of the translated sentences and it's very natural!  --

You don't need a Korean keyboard and also no need to install an app. 

Check out how to use them with your computer and your cell phone now.

You can study Korean vocabulary anywhere. 

It will definitely help you studying Korean and Hangul(Hangeul). 

--  https://www.northkoreatech.org/the-north-korean-website-list/   --
This is a list of all North Korean websites available on the public Internet.

All sites hosted in Pyongyang are included and I have attempted to
list most major North Korean sites that are listed overseas.

I’ve also included a few non-North Korean sites that will be of interest
to people researching North Korea and its politics.

The list is divided into several major sections:

North Korean company and business websites

North Korean cultural websites

North Korean government and NGO websites

North Korean news and media websites

North Korean travel and tourism websites

North Korean university websites

Defunct websites are no longer listed.

If you spot a new site, please get in touch: martyn@northkoreatech.org