BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- In August 2023, a world-class sports event was in full swing in Budapest, the capital of Hungary and dubbed "the pearl of the Danube." The 19th World Athletics Championships captured global attention and served as a bridge for technological and cultural exchanges. Here, iFLYTEK, a Chinese company, quietly revolutionized communication at international events with its cutting-edge AI technology.
The photo taken on August 18, 2023 shows a site for the 2023 World Athletics Championships. (Provide by Xinhua News Agency)
First Encounter: A Handshake with Budapest
On an early autumn night in 2022, iFLYTEK received a message from the Consul General of Hungary in Shanghai, revealing that Budapest would host the 2023 World Athletics Championships. The organizers were seeking a tech partner to provide intelligent language services during the event. This world-class sports event was both a stage to showcase the technological prowess of a company and a golden opportunity to prove its technological strength.
Naturally, iFLYTEK accepted the challenge and became a supplier for the World Athletics Championships, providing real-time translation software, virtual human systems, and hardware products like translators, recording pens and dictionary pens. Leveraging technology, they helped remove language barriers during the event.
On August 20, 2023, the service staff of iFLYTEK for the event cheer for Chinese athletes at the starting point of the track and field competition. (Provided by iFLYTEK)
Breaking the Ice: The Bridge for Seamless Communication
Yemeni runner Al-Yaari set a personal best in the 800 meters at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest and made more new friends than ever before at international events. He attributed this to a "magic" Chinese-made translation device.
“I’ve used this device to chat with athletes who speak French, Portuguese and Hungarian. My English is average, and I’ve never communicated with so many people at international competitions before,” said Al-Yaari. This made his championship experience even more meaningful beyond his achievements.
The device he referred to was an intelligent translator provided by iFLYTEK, an official supplier of the event, supporting real-time text and voice translation in 60 languages.
Al-Yaari from Yemen poses for a photo during the registration for the 2023 World Athletics Championships. (Provided by the interviewee)
In the media work area set up by the organizing committee, journalists from various countries and regions came daily to inquire about the devices. Both inside and outside the stadium, athletes, coaches and staffers from different countries and regions were often seen using the translators. Many agreed that these Chinese products facilitated overseas life and brought the “villagers” of the global village closer together.
A reporter uses the iFLYTEK translator to communicate with a Hungarian. (Provided by iFLYTEK)
“Its translation between Hungarian and Arabic is very accurate. I almost can't do without it,” said Al-Yaari. From registration to check-in, from training to competition, he used it to communicate with Hungarian volunteers. The small translator became a bridge between him and others.
Hand in Hand: Building an Internationalized Open Platform
“Good evening, guests and friends!” said Youhuu, the mascot of the 2023 World Athletics Championships, appearing on the screen in the press center, enthusiastically greeting everyone in Chinese.
Guests turned their attention to this indigenous Hungarian sheep in sportswear, which spoke multiple languages fluently through the Budapest AI Joint Open Platform, demonstrating multi-language broadcasting abilities at the press conference and conveying the spirit of sports in a lively manner. This scene occurred at the launch of the Budapest AI Joint Open Platform.
The photo taken on August 24, 2023 shows the launch of the Budapest Joint AI Open Platform. (Provided by iFLYTEK)
During the event, iFLYTEK took the lead in the construction of a global multi-language technology ecosystem, launching the Budapest AI Joint Open Platform.
“We sought technological partners worldwide and successfully introduced 115 technologies with regional language and native language advantages for this event,” said Long Mingkang, dean of the iFLYTEK AI Academy, during the event. The platform “will open over 100 multi-language capabilities by the end of 2023,” inviting global partners to jointly promote AI technology innovation and application. It has already attracted the attention and participation of 378,000 overseas developers.
Damir, a senior sales director from Speechmatics, said providing technical services at such a prestigious international event was valuable. “We are very pleased that iFLYTEK provided such a technical cooperation platform,” he said.
Every major international sports event is a grand gathering of languages and cultures. Pioneering the use of advanced technology in large-scale international sports events and gradually adopting it in urban governance, industrial development and people's lives has become an important trend in the popularization of advanced technology. In the AI era, Chinese companies like iFLYTEK are driving continuous technological progress through practical applications, making cross-language communication more efficient and barrier-free. (Hu Mengting)
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