Black Box available
Annalisa Sandrelli of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies on Translation, Languages and Cultures (SITLec) at the University of Bologna announced that Black Box, a dedicated interpreter-training program that has been under development for several years, is now available for evaluation and purchase. Black Box is based on Sandrelli's research project into the needs of computer support for interpreter training, which was funded by the European Commission under the Marie Curie program between 1999-2002. The practical output of the research was the development of a software prototype (Interpretations) at the University Of Hull Department Of Modern Languages (UK). In 2001 and 2002 Interpretations was demonstrated in conferences or workshops at many interpreter training departments in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Spain and the UK. The comments and feedback from teachers and students on the prototype software have been incorporated into the new product.
The program is highly focused on the needs of interpreting students, although many of its features may be useful for general language-learning activities. It combines very flexible playback of audio or video with synchronized student recordings (interpreting performances), and includes unique features, such as a dedicated text editor to annotate source text transcripts and the timed sight translation exercise in which students have to cope with time pressure.
Black Box is distributed by Melissi Multimedia Ltd. A restricted evaluation copy of Black Box can be downloaded at http://www.melissi.co.uk/blackbox/download/BBXSetup.exe or you can ask for a copy on CD by sending an e-mail request to info@melissi.co.uk.
6/7/2005
Melissi Multimedia Ltd.
31 Hobgate
York YO24 4HE
UK e-mail: info@melissi.co.uk
Web: http://www.melissi.co.uk/

