In this article, we have an interview with Ms. Magdalena Kanska from Sony Music Solution Inc., discussing how VoicePing facilitated the translation of business seminars at the AnimeJapan 2024 event. This collaboration between Sony Music Solution and VoicePing proved highly successful, offering both an exceptional translation experience and cost-efficiency. Additionally, we explore how VoicePing operated during the event and the simplicity of setting up the system.
AnimeJapan 2024 celebrated its 10th year with a big turnout, bringing in over 130,000 people. At this event, more than 50 companies exhibited booths during the public day and announced the latest anime information. This event wasn’t just for Japan; people came from all over the world, including China, the US, Europe, and Hong Kong, making it a global celebration of anime.
AnimeJapan 2024’s Business Day was a standout feature, dedicated to the professional side of the anime industry, held at the Tokyo Dome City Prism Hall. This part of the event spanned two days and was specifically designed to foster deep discussions, business networking, and knowledge sharing among industry insiders. The setup included over 50 booths by companies showcasing their latest projects, technologies, and services tailored to the anime sector. This unique setting offered a prime opportunity for companies to connect, discuss potential collaborations, and explore new business avenues.
The Business Day also featured a range of seminars and panels covering a broad spectrum of topics crucial to the anime industry. These sessions provided insights into international market expansions, with a particular focus on the Middle Eastern anime market, highlighting the growing interest and opportunities in this region. Experts shared their knowledge on navigating the complexities of licensing and merchandising, using popular Anime titles as case studies to offer practical advice and strategies in Japan. Furthermore, the seminars delved into the current trends and future directions of the anime industry, giving attendees a clearer understanding of the market dynamics and the evolving landscape of anime production and distribution.
One challenge at the business seminars was that while all speakers presented in Japanese, roughly half of the audience were international participants who didn’t understand the language. Adding to the complexity, the pitches were laden with specific anime industry terminology, making them tough to translate on the spot, even for skilled interpreters. VoicePing’s Real-time AI translation technology, however, managed to bridge this gap effectively, ensuring that language barriers did not impede the exchange of ideas. The success and impact of this technology on facilitating better communication and inclusivity at the event will be further discussed in an upcoming interview with Ms. Magdalena Kanska from Sony Music Solution Inc., who oversaw the event’s production.
Interview with Sony Music Solutions Inc.
This is an interview with Ms. Magdalena Kanska from Sony Music Solutions Inc., who was in charge of organizing the Business Day at AnimeJapan 2024. In this interview, we will discover the challenges they faced during this international event and how they found VoicePing to be the most efficient solution to those challenges.
You can watch the full interview in Japanese by the link below.
Q. Could you introduce your company and about yourself?
A. My name is Kanska from Sony Music Solutions Inc. It is one of the companies within the Sony Music Group, and it is a company that provides a variety of solutions.
Specifically, we are a company that handles events, CD packaging, creative space production, CD counter design, store promotions, etc
Q. What is the role of your company in AnimeJapan 2024?
A. As for AnimeJapan 2024, our company manages the whole event, and I am in charge of managing Business Day in general, and we were also partially in charge of the Public Days.
Jack and Jiroumaru from VoicePing (left and right respectively)
Q. Why did you choose VoicePing as AI translation tool for Bussine Day seminar?
A. For business seminars, we have always wanted to include an interpreter, but there were hurdles such as cost, so we have always held business seminars for domestic audiences.
Overall, Business Day has a large number of overseas customers, and every year we receive feedback from people who would like to participate in our seminars.
This time, we wanted to include some kind of translation, and since having interpreters for two days and multiple programs would cost a lot of money, we looked into whether there was a way to solve this problem with a simple system.
There are three main reasons why we chose VoicePing.
- Budget-friendly
- When I checked the demo, the accuracy of the translation was good.
- This time, there are technical terms such as the anime titles and character names, so we needed a function that detects technical terms what we registered in advance.
Q. How did VoicePing perform in the event?
A. There were various types of seminars this time, and depending on the person speaking, it was sometimes difficult to transcribe or translate them. But If the content of the speech was organized in advance, the translation would be very good. When speakers think and speak like in free talk, each sentence becomes extremely long, so I thought the system was facing some difficulties . Overall speaking in sentences with a clear ending seems to fit the system best.
Q.Thank you for that feedback. We will use that to improve our product.
Lastly, how was your members or participants reaction to VoicePing?
A. I haven’t been able to fully hear the opinions of everyone who participated this time, but this kind of solution is not yet widely used in the industry.I got some reactions from the participants saying, ‘’What is this?” and people from overseas actually participated, so I thought it was a good idea to use it. I think the system will probably be improved, so I thought it would be nice to be able to use it again next year.
Q. Thank you. We hope you will use VoicePing again next time!
Delivering Cost-Effective, Real-Time Translation Experience
At AnimeJapan 2024, VoicePing introduced a solution to the language barrier in business seminars with our real-time AI translation system. This system was designed to recognize and accurately translate industry-specific terminology, ensuring the most comfortable translation experience.
During presentations, as speakers delivered their content in Japanese, an additional monitor provided Japanese subtitles alongside English translations almost instantly. This capability was particularly noticeable with specialized terms, such as the event name “AnimeJapan 2024,” which VoicePing had been pre-trained to recognize and translate correctly, showcasing the system’s adaptability to context-specific vocabulary.
Moreover, setting up the VoicePing system is fast and easy. The organizer only needs to prepare a PC that is connected to the internet and the audio system; then, VoicePing will work smoothly without any technical hassle.
Most importantly, implementing VoicePing’s translation technology offered a cost-effective alternative to traditional translation methods. The expense of utilizing VoicePing’s system was significantly lower, costing less than half the price of hiring professional interpreters who are proficient in the technical language of the anime industry. This approach not only facilitated real-time understanding between speakers and an international audience but also represented a major saving in translation costs, proving to be an efficient and economical solution for overcoming language obstacles during the event.
QR Codes: The Key to Unlocking Easy, Scalable Event Translations
At VoicePing, we do things differently from other AI translation systems by using QR codes to make understanding languages at events easier. Most times, big screens can only show translations in one or two languages, and it’s hard for people sitting far away to read them. So, we came up with this new way to help everyone get the translations they need.
In the video we shared, you just have to scan a QR code with your phone, pick the language you want, and you’ll see the translation right there – no need to download anything. You can make the text bigger or even listen to it if you prefer. This approach allows event organizers to easily scale the number of languages available without incurring additional costs, thereby making our events welcoming to attendees from all over the world.
Conclusion
In wrapping up this interview with Ms. Magdalena Kanska from Sony Music Solution Inc., we believe that VoicePing’s AI translation system played an important role in AnimeJapan 2024. The integration of this technology during the event’s Business Day addressed the linguistic challenges faced by international attendees, particularly with industry-specific terminology, making the seminars more accessible. The innovative use of QR codes for on-demand translation on personal devices highlighted VoicePing’s practical and economical approach to overcoming language barriers, setting a new standard for global participation in such events. As we look to the future, the success of VoicePing at AnimeJapan 2024 underscores the importance of technology in creating more inclusive and globally engaged event experiences.
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