On “Star Trek” they have something called a universal translator that can instantly translate alien language into English (which saves a lot of time if Captain Kirk has the hots for one of the space babes on the planet.) Amazingly enough there is actually a device here on Earth that works somewhat like the universal translator and it came from the minds that brought us GPS and the internet.

The VoxTec Phraselator P2 is a 1 pound, 5-inches by 7-inches gadget that can understand what you are saying in English and then give you the translation in a different language. It was developed for use by Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) but now it’s making appearances in police and emergency departments across the country where it can help bridge the understanding gap between people that speak different languages and possibly save lives.

The exterior shell of the Phraselator is wind and shockproof, the battery life is good for 20 hours of usage and it has 1 GB of memory which can add new words or phrases. The only down side is that the Phraselator isn’t for sale yet commercially which means that for our trip to France we’ll have to order our meals the old fashioned way by butchering the native language.

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