Bowlingual: Barking mad or a new level of communication?

Described as a “translator”, a mode of communication between humans and dogs, Bowlingual is a “translation” tool developed by Takara Tomy, a Japanese toy company. This device first came onto the market in 2002, but has been back in the media recently with the imminent release of a Bowlingual application for mobile phone devices. Although Bowlingual was designed for fun and not intended as a serious translation tool, it was developed in consultation with a vet and an acoustics laboratory and so isn’t complete fiction.

This little device analyzes your trusty pet’s bark. It segregates the bark into six emotional categories and then offers up a number phrases as translations of the barks. While these phrases are not intended as a direct translation of your dog’s bark they do add an extra element of fun to the device. When you first buy Bowlingual, you have to get your dog to bark into a receiver and a special algorithm will record the bark and store your dogs corresponding desire.

The new Bowlingual iPhone App, scheduled to be released in the summer will allow you to update your dog’s feelings directly to a Twitter page. This does seem barking mad, but it is billed as a mode of linking up dog owners though the increasingly popular social media site Twitter.

The Translation People don’t offer translation services for dogs, but if you have any human language translation requirements, we will be more than happy to help.