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Japanese Dog Translator Turns Owners Into Dr. Dolittle

by Warren Riddle on July 9, 2009 at 07:30 AM


Japanese toy manufacturers are known for developing awesomely bizarre and outlandish creations. One such company, Takara Tomy, recently unveiled its updated BowLingual Voice gadget, which supposedly translates exactly what your barking pet pooch is trying to communicate.

According to Ubergizmo, Takara Tomy asserts that the device, which is worn like a collar, can accurately translate barks into 100 different Japanese words. Older versions of BowLingual (and Meowlingual) have been around for several years, but only acted as emotional analyzers, translating barks or meows into one of six different emotions that was then displayed on a hand-held wireless device.

The new version actually verbally translates (with a female voice) those yelps into Japanese words and phrases. It will also, via an LCD screen on a wireless controller, still supposedly display the dog's mood. While a 100 word vocabulary sounds impressive, we'd expect to only hear a lot of: "Food, treat, play, food, food, food, play!" But, if Tomy's telling the truth, and dogs are now miraculously able to form entire sentences, a "Please get this lame, embarrassing bandana off of me!" wouldn't be too altogether shocking.

Hopefully, Tomy is also working on a reverse device so that dogs can understand human language. Perhaps that will finally put an end to all of those incredibly annoying owners who insist on baby-talking to their poor, pitiable companions. Isn't that wight, good widdle buddy? [From: Ubergizmo]

Tags: bowlingual, dogs, pets, top

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