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Many-pair translating telephones are commonly used.

Reference judgmentLateDisputedResearch snapshot · October 15, 2026
Source confidence & research status
i
Editorial paraphrase · evidence v0.3. AI-assisted editorial assessments; original book editions not independently collated. Attribution and outcome confidence are recorded separately.

Source state: TEXT CONFIRMED IN LISTED SOURCE.

Attribution confidence
MEDIUM
Outcome confidence · deadline / review
MEDIUM / MEDIUM
Timing confidence / kind
MEDIUM · DOCUMENTED BY
Population
Technology markets and relevant users; no universality unless the forecast expressly requires it.

Our reading of the claim

Reference (stated reasonable reading)

Late

Criterion: Ordinary users have practical two-way spoken translation for many language pairs; no perfect all-language requirement.

Deadline: 2009 · Included in this comparison

At original deadlinePARTLY FULFILLED
By review dateFULFILLED

Jibbigo provided a real but limited 2009 translating-phone capability. It was not yet a routine many-pair service. Google’s 2011 and 2015 conversation/speech products establish the broader consumer capability by 2015. Accents and mistakes do not negate ordinary practical use.

Deadline and follow-up notes

At deadline: Jibbigo provided a real but limited 2009 translating-phone capability. It was not yet a routine many-pair service.

By review: Google’s 2011 and 2015 conversation/speech products establish the broader consumer capability by 2015. Accents and mistakes do not negate ordinary practical use.

Evidence: O11 (opens in a new tab)O12 (opens in a new tab)N20 (opens in a new tab)

View this reading in the scorecard →
Non-scoring comparator · excluded from all rates

Perfect human-quality interpretation for arbitrary calls and all languages.

Not demanded by the source; do not score this as a strict forecast.

01

The forecast and its attribution.

EDITORIAL PARAPHRASE

Many-pair translating telephones are commonly used.

How My Predictions Are Faring — Ray Kurzweil

1999 · Attribution / year unconfirmed
Communication, prediction 1, printed p. 50

AUTHOR RETROSPECTIVE REPRINT

Source publication: 2010-10 · Access: text checked

Official author archive. Cover says October 2010, but the available file contains later updates. Reprinted forecast passages are used for attribution; the author’s favorable self-grades are not independent outcome evidence. Original book editions were not inspected. Page locators below are PRINTED pages, not PDF viewer indices.

Catalogue entry P01
Open listed source (opens in a new tab)
Normalized claim
Many-pair translating telephones are commonly used.
Success criteria
Ordinary users have practical two-way spoken translation for many language pairs; no perfect all-language requirement.
Claim type
Adoption
02

Timeline

PREDICTION MADE1999Attributed forecast year; original edition not collated
ORIGINAL TARGET2009Deadline supplied by this assessment
FULL REALIZATIONBy 2015Evidence bound, not first achievement year

DOCUMENTED BY: Documented by 2015; after 2009, no later than 2015

Outcome at original deadlinePARTLY FULFILLED
Outcome at reviewFULFILLED

Supplied target wording: 2009. The original deadline is preserved if a later forecast revises it. Forecast horizon: not established. Drift is a calendar-year difference, not a precise elapsed duration.

03

The evidence.

CONTEXT · Publication date not recorded

How do you say? — Carnegie Mellon on Jibbigo (opens in a new tab)

Fall 2009 university account of English–Spanish speech translation on iPhone. Not evidence of common use across many language pairs.. Fall 2009 university account of English–Spanish speech translation on iPhone. Not evidence of common use across many language pairs.

Source checked as of 2026-10-15
PRIMARY RESEARCHER PRODUCT ACCOUNT

Source publication: 2009 · Access: reused checked source

Fall 2009 university account of English–Spanish speech translation on iPhone. Not evidence of common use across many language pairs.

Catalogue entry O11
CONTEXT · 2011-10-13

Start a conversation with Google (opens in a new tab)

Speech conversation mode expanded to 14 languages; still described as alpha. Not equivalent to translation quality or universal adoption.. Speech conversation mode expanded to 14 languages; still described as alpha. Not equivalent to translation quality or universal adoption.

Source checked as of 2026-10-15
PRIMARY PRODUCT RELEASE

Source publication: 2011-10-13 · Access: reused checked source

Speech conversation mode expanded to 14 languages; still described as alpha. Not equivalent to translation quality or universal adoption.

Catalogue entry O12
CONTEXT · Publication date not recorded

Google Translate: 2015 official product updates (opens in a new tab)

Conversation and speech translation documented in product updates. Text-language counts must not be presented as speech-language counts; 44-language wearable speech support is separately identified.. Conversation and speech translation documented in product updates. Text-language counts must not be presented as speech-language counts; 44-language wearable speech support is separately identified.

Source checked as of 2026-10-15
PRIMARY RESEARCH OR OFFICIAL

Source publication: 2015 · Access: web text or indexed extract checked

Conversation and speech translation documented in product updates. Text-language counts must not be presented as speech-language counts; 44-language wearable speech support is separately identified.

Catalogue entry N20
CONTEXT · 2025-09-15

Apple: Live Translation shipping in iOS 26 (opens in a new tab)

Shipping real-time spoken translation in Phone for selected language pairs; five languages at initial launch. Not every language, country or device.. Shipping real-time spoken translation in Phone for selected language pairs; five languages at initial launch. Not every language, country or device.

Source checked as of 2026-10-15
PRIMARY RESEARCH OR OFFICIAL

Source publication: 2025-09-15 · Access: web text or indexed extract checked

Shipping real-time spoken translation in Phone for selected language pairs; five languages at initial launch. Not every language, country or device.

Catalogue entry N71
CONTEXT · Publication date not recorded

Apple: Translate phone calls and conversations (opens in a new tab)

Current iOS 26 guide lists one-on-one spoken Phone translation across English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean variants. Supports actual telephone integration, not perfect translation quality.. Current iOS 26 guide lists one-on-one spoken Phone translation across English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean variants. Supports actual telephone integration, not perfect translation quality.

Source checked as of 2026-10-15
PRIMARY RESEARCH OR OFFICIAL

Source publication: not recorded · Access: web text or indexed extract checked

Current iOS 26 guide lists one-on-one spoken Phone translation across English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean variants. Supports actual telephone integration, not perfect translation quality.

Catalogue entry N72

Capability, adoption, and timing

A related breakthrough is not automatically fulfillment. Review must check the actual capability, how widely it was required to be used, the specified technology, and the original deadline. A prototype cannot establish a claim about routine or widespread use.

i
Alternative interpretation: Do not reuse text-translation language totals as speech totals. The 2015 documented-by year is not asserted as the first possible many-pair translation product.
04

Research notes & history

Do not reuse text-translation language totals as speech totals. The 2015 documented-by year is not asserted as the first possible many-pair translation product.

Open questions

  • Original-edition collation remains an attribution task; it does not erase the stated outcome assessment.
  • An earlier documented instance could refine timing; the documented-by date is not claimed to be the invention year.
Imported from
kurzweil_verification_v0_3_package/predictions.canonical.v0.3.json
Legacy identifier
None
Forecast family
F-SPEECH-TRANSLATION
Parent statement
Not assigned
File checksum
93ae54d9ea2f1bd1817c481b85e2b707812bcd934c74d0f1715fa098d9b5f51b
Inspect preserved source fields
release_record
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Review history

— Evidence v0.2: PARTIAL. CMU documented an English–Spanish iPhone speech translator in 2009. Google expanded conversation mode to 14 languages in 2011. That is meaningful capability progress, but neither proves common many-pair use by 2009. Change: Complete deadline/current outcome assessment under explicit scope; separate uncertainty from verdict.

— Evidence v0.3: EDITORIAL_ASSESSMENT_COMPLETE; supplied verdict LATE. Jibbigo provided a real but limited 2009 translating-phone capability. It was not yet a routine many-pair service. Google’s 2011 and 2015 conversation/speech products establish the broader consumer capability by 2015. Accents and mistakes do not negate ordinary practical use.

Related forecasts.

No forecast family has been resolved for this record. Related statements and revised deadlines will be linked during research.