LONDON, April 14, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ROK Entertainment Group, the UK-based mobile technology, applications and services company, has today announced the addition of multi-language translation functionality to its ROKTalk text-to-speech service for websites.
ROKTalk, originally designed to automatically convert typed words on websites into audible speech, is now able to audibly deliver written words on websites in five languages, including English, French, German, Spanish and Hindi.
Further languages will be added in due course, and ROKTalk will be developed further for use on mobile phones.
"The ability to translate text into other languages represents an enormous advancement in website accessibility on many levels," said Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman and CEO of ROK, "not least for the benefit of those for whom English is not their first language, but also for the under-educated and illiterate as well as the millions of people affected by dyslexia worldwide."
There are approximately 350,000 people who are registered as being blind or partially sighted in the UK, most of whom are partially or entirely excluded from the socio-economic benefits of the internet as a direct result of the lack of text-to-speech software on most websites. In addition, there are an estimated 1 million people in the UK alone who suffer from dyslexia or similar reading disabilities along with an estimated 5% of the entire global adult population.
"Given it is law under the Americans with Disabilities Act for all Governmental and commercial websites in the US to offer full accessibility to all – and we are aware that similar obligations are expected to become law in the UK and across Europe in the future – we are now able to offer website owners not only full web-accessibility compliance, but also the hugely important service of language translations as well," added Kendrick.
Early adopters of the ROKTalk text-to-speech service in the UK have included County Councils, regional Police Forces, NHS Trusts, Investors in People, the Gloucester Housing Association and the Down's Syndrome Association.
More information at: www.roktalk.com
About ROK:
Founded in 2004, ROK Entertainment Group is a mobile technologies, applications and services development company with a suite of revenue-generating mobile services which it licenses to Mobile Operators and Handset Manufacturers worldwide. Headquartered in the UK, ROK is best known for its award-winning mobile TV services which stream video – live and on demand – over 2.5G, 3G and Wi-Fi®.
The ROK Entertainment Group logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=5361
Forward-Looking Statement:
The information contained in this news release, other than historical information, consists of forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these statements. Forward-looking statements regarding the timing of developing, testing and releasing existing and new products, of marketing and selling them, of deriving revenues and profits from them, as well as the effects of those revenues and profits on the Group's margins and financial position, are uncertain because many of the factors affecting the timing of those items are beyond the Group's control.