The Ministry of Knowledge Economy has launched a smartphone application called ‘Genie Talk,’ which offers instant Korean-English translation services in both verbal and written formats. Designed to work best with travel-related speech or for everyday conversations, Genie Talk can recognize 270,000 Korean words and 65,000 English words. When connected to WiFi, users can simply type or record messages to get a translation.

Genie Talk, equipped with translation technology developed by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), is around 80 percent accurate.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy is also working to launch Japanese and Chinese versions as early as 2014 when Incheon is set to host the 14th Asian Games. The ministry also aims to release versions for six more languages including Spanish, French, German and Russian prior to the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in 2018.

The application is available free of charge on Apple’s iTunes App Store and Google’s Android Market.

* Released by the Software and IT Convergence Division