JAJAH today announced the launch of JAJAH Babel, a real-time free phone translation service that allows anyone in China to call a local number, speak in English and immediately hear their message back in Chinese Mandarin. (Local JAJAH access numbers are also available in the U.S., UK and Australia.)

Developed with support from IBM Research, you can dial a local number, say your message in English and hear it back Chinese. The service also works in reverse for Chinese speakers who wish to have a statement translated into English. Additional language support is set for release in the coming months.

“JAJAH was built to bring down barriers to global communication through high quality, low-cost calls available from any phone, any network, anywhere. And now with JAJAH Babel, we are removing the language barrier and providing a valuable service to anyone traveling to Beijing this summer,” said JAJAH Co-founder Daniel Mattes. “We are very excited about this project and our ongoing innovations with IBM, a company that has a history of producing products and services that change the world.”

How does JAJAH Babel work? From English to Chinese or in reverse:

• Dial JAJAH Babel from any phone. U.S. local access number: +1-718-513-2969
• Choose which language you want your message translated into (either English to Chinese or Chinese to English)
• Say your message and press #
• You will be able to confirm that your message was properly understood by the system.
• The message will automatically be played back in Chinese. If you wish, simply hand your phone to the other person or put the phone on loudspeaker so they hear the message.
• The other person can then record a message in Chinese, following the steps above, and you will hear their message in English.