March 30, 3021 Further Upgrading of Multilingual Translation System Supporting the Labor Field

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, Chaired by TOKUDA Hideyuki) will work with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to further enhance a multilingual translation system for the labor field.

1. Background and overview

MIC and NICT are conducting the research, development, and social implementation of a multilingual translation system using AI (hereafter referred to as “AI translation”) based on the Global Communication Plan 2025 ^(*1) to solve language barriers in the world. As part of their activity, they operate a translation bank that collects a large amount of high-quality translation data required to improve translation accuracy and promote development for further improvement and multidisciplinary development of AI translation.
On the other hand, in Japan, many foreigners reside and have jobs ^(*2), and there are opportunities to face language barriers in various aspects of their working environment and daily lives. AI translation is also expected to solve problems in the government’s Comprehensive Measures for Acceptance and Coexistence of Foreign Nationals ^(*3).
Against this background, MIC and NICT participate in the MHLW’s “Study Group of Experts on the Creation and Dissemination of Multilingual Glossaries and Translation Data Useful for Employment Management” and received translation data for ten languages (easy Japanese, English, two kinds of Chinese (simplified and traditional), Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Nepali, Spanish, and Portuguese) from the MHLW. This data is the study group’s achievement result and contributes to improving AI translation accuracy for the labor field.
The translation data provided by the MHLW will be used for multilingual translation technology, including NICT’s VoiceTra ^(*4). By doing so, MIC and NICT plan to make development and demonstration to improve accuracy and promote technology transfer to private companies.
MIC will continue working with the MHLW to enhance AI translation further and promote social implementation to contribute to communication support for foreign workers.

• *1
  Global Communication Plan 2025 (MIC, March 2020): A plan that summarizes policies, including new missions, visions, goals, and actions that the industry, academia, and government sectors will work on in collaboration and cooperation. The plan promotes research and development to upgrade multilingual translation technology further, aiming to realize AI’s simultaneous interpretation in 2025.
• *2
  The number of foreign residents was approximately 2.89 million (as of the end of June 2020). The number of foreign workers was approximately 1.72 million (as of the end of October 2020).
• *3
  Comprehensive Measures for Acceptance and Coexistence of Foreign Nationals (FY2020 revised)―July 2020 decision of Ministerial Council on Acceptance and Inclusion of Foreign Human Resources from the perspective of supporting foreigners as consumers (excerpts): Multilingual automatic speech translation technology enables sufficient communication between Japanese and foreigners and between foreigners without stress. According to the decision, Japan works on the realization of simultaneous interpretation by AI. At the same time, considering the recent revision of the Immigration Control and Refugee Act, Japan should add AI-supporting languages to be strengthened from the viewpoint of dealing with foreign residents, including foreigners with specific skills, and improve AI translation accuracy. At the consultation counters of government agencies, which have many opportunities to interact with foreigners, Japan should promote multilingual support that can appropriately respond to foreigners’ consultation needs while utilizing automatic translation apps, according to the decision. From the perspective of ensuring an appropriate working environment, the decision states that Japan should promote communication between business owners and foreign workers and business owners’ efforts to establish workplaces for foreign workers. Therefore, the decision states that it is necessary to create a multilingual glossary useful for employment management, which translates frequently used words and example sentences in labor contracts into various languages, inform business owners and foreigners of the same. According to the decision, the glossary will be used as basic data for multilingual automatic translation technology. The decision states that it will be possible to improve the translation accuracy of employment management terms.
• *4
  A multilingual voice translation app for smartphones that automatically translates a language into a different language when spoken, utilizing voice recognition, translation, and voice synthesis technology that is the result of NICT’s research and development. VoiceTra is opened to the public by NICT for research and demonstration purposes and is free to download and use.
  VoiceTra support webpage: https://voicetra.nict.go.jp/en/index.html