AI - A Voice Translator (Difficulty: 2)

CreatiCode

Key Topics Covered

Introduction

In this tutorial, we’ll build an AI program that can translate between any 2 languages. For example, the user might say some words in English, then we display the translation in Spanish, and also speak out those words.

Step 1 - Pick a Backdrop

Please create a new project, and remove the dog sprite. Select a backdrop for the stage, such as “Stars”.

Step 2 - Add the First Label

Please load the “Widgets” extension, then add a label widget. Its text should be “Say something in English”, and please try to make it cover the upper half of the stage:

As shown, you can use the “widget position” tool to manually move and resize the label widget. You need to move the mouse slowly to keep dragging the handles. The position and size values in the block will be updated automatically as you drag.

Step 3 - Format the Label

Next, let’s make the label look nicer, with a transparent background and larger text.

Here are the blocks you need to add. Note that since we have already added the label, you can choose it from the dropdown list.

Step 4 - Recognize Speech

Next, let’s open the microphone and recognize what the user is saying for 3 seconds:

Step 5 - Display the recognized text

Now let’s display the recognized text in the label. You can use the “text from speech” block to read the recognized text, and use the “set value to” block to set the text on the label.

Now if you try to say something in English, it will show up in the label:

Step 6 - Translate the text

Next, we need to translate the words into Spanish. Let’s use 2 new variables “English words” and “Spanish words” to store the original text and the Spanish translation.

Step 7 - Add another label

Next, we need to display the Spanish words. Please add another label, and then update its style. Note that you have to add this new label first, then you can see its name in the dropdown menu of other blocks.

And here are the new blocks you need:

Step 8 - Speak the Spanish Words

For the last step, we need to also speak out the Spanish words. You can use the “AI Speaker” for this.

This is the final result:

Creative Ideas

There are many ways you can extend this project. Here are some ideas for your inspiration:

Allow the user to pick 2 languages: you can use 2 dropdown menus to allow the user to pick the 2 languages.
Translate both ways: we can add some buttons to allow both users to talk, and the app will translate to the other language. For example, one button for “start” and “stop” listening in English and translating to Spanish, and another button for “start” and “stop” listening in Spanish and translate to English