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A model interacts with TransTalker, a real-time translation software, at Lotte Department Store's Avenuel Jamsil location, where the Lotte World theme park is located. (courtesy of SK Telecom)

Lotte Department Store and Lotte World, common attractions for foreign tourists visiting Korea, have begun implementing AI interpretation services.

On Monday, SK Telecom unveiled its AI-based translation program “TransTalker,” which offers real-time interpretation for 13 languages, including Arabic, Russian, Vietnamese and Indonesian. Lotte began testing the translation service on Friday through its information desks on the first floor of Lotte Department Store's Avenuel Jamsil and on the first floor of Lotte World Mall. Both locations receive over a thousand visits from foreign tourists every day. Lotte has reported that the majority of users are surprised at the effectiveness and clarity of the interpretative service.

Users simply speak into a microphone installed onto a clear screen at the information desk. The AI interpretation service then translates the user’s question into Korean, which is displayed on a monitor on the other side for an employee. The Korean employee then replies in Korean, which is then interpreted back into the user’s native language on a screen. The program can interpret between English, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, French, German and Russian. 

The program is equipped with software designed for speech recognition, natural language processing, translation engines, and large language models (LLM). Lotte Department Store plans on increasing the number of locations that utilize the service.

The Lotte Department Store trials have inspired SK Telecom to expand its client network for AI translation services. TransTalker could be linked to a video chat program to enable real-time interpretation during online meetings. While TransTalker is currently a cloud-based program, SK Telecom says it is working on an IT-based model that has increased security. The telecommunications firm is also planning on building an on-device AI interpretation service that does not require an internet connection.

A model interacts with TransTalker, a real-time translation software, at Lotte Department Store's Avenuel Jamsil location, where the Lotte World theme park is located. (courtesy of SK Telecom)

AI equipped with natural language processing software, which allows it to interpret human language in various contexts, is gaining the most attraction among mainstream users among all AI services. Samsung Electronics equipped its S24 smartphone series with AI-based interpretation technology that allows users to converse and text in real-time. It is currently capable of interpreting in 13 languages, including Hindi, Portuguese and Polish.

According to a recent study by market research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, 28% of people who’ve purchased Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series devices said they did so because they wanted real-time translation, a greater percentage than those who bought the devices for AI-based camera enhancements (24%). 

By Jung Yu-gyung, staff reporter

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