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Interactive voice enabled information systems, functioning in
particular languages, is of the most powerful tools to impart
information and knowledge on a broad basis within and across
multilingual societies.
The single most important value of voice based
LST applications is the fact that these systems are accessible to
all people regardless of their state of literacy, as communication
takes place in natural spoken language without human intervention.
The project aims inter alia to develop a fully
automated, telephone based, multi-lingual query and booking
system, which will function in five languages: i.e. in South
African English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho and Afrikaans. The
development of IsiZulu and isiXhosa, as two Nguni languages, opens
up further developments at a later stage for the other Nguni
languages. Similarly, the inclusion of Sesotho will facilitate
further developments in the other Sotho languages, such as
Setswana and Sesotho sa Lebowa, after which it may be extended to
the other official languages. Although the domain of the queries
is initially restricted to the hotel industry, provision will be
made for later "plug-in" modules, e.g. information on
travel schedules, cinema and theatre programmes, insurance
products, banking rates, automobile products, weather conditions
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