すばらしい電話会話分析ソフト Wonderful conversation analysis software!

I read a wonderful article in Asahi Shimbun Newspaper last month reporting new innovative technology in conversation analysis.

富士通_{[ふじつう]}のウェブサイトに詳_[くわ]しい(= detailed)説明_{[せつめい]} (= explanation)があります。これによると、詐欺師_[さぎし] (= a swindler; con man)たちは、電話_[でんわ]で驚_[おどろ]く(= surprising)情報_{[じょうほう]} (= information)をとてもたくさん次々_{[つぎつぎ]}に(= one after another)伝_[つた]えます(= to deliver)。例_[たと]えば「あなたの息子_[むすこ]さんが交通_{[こうつう]}事故_[じこ] にあった、今_[いま]すぐ大金_{[たいきん]}が必要_{[ひつよう]}だ!(the whole sentence means: Your son had a traffic accident. He needs big money now!)」などです。人_[ひと]はこのような情報_{[じょうほう]}を突然_{[とつぜん]} (= suddenly)、大量_{[たいりょう]}に(= huge volume)受_[う]け取_[と]る(= to receive)と「過信_[かしん] (literally, this means “over-belief”)」という心理_[しんり]状態_{[じょうたい]} (= psychological state)になるそうです。そして、過信_[かしん]になった時_[とき]、正_[ただ]しい(= proper)判断_{[はんだん]} (= judgment)ができなくなります。この過信_[かしん]状態_{[じょうたい]}は、話_[はな]し方_[かた]に現_[あらわ]れる(= to appear)そうです。声_[こえ]の大_[おお]きさや高_[たか]さが変_[か]わるそうです。名古屋_[なごや]大学_{[だいがく]}と富士通_{[ふじつう]}は、この過信_[かしん]の時_[とき]の声_[こえ]の大_[おお]きさや高_[たか]さの特徴_{[とくちょう]} (= characteristics)を研究_{[けんきゅう]}しました。そして、過信_[かしん]状態_{[じょうたい]}がすぐにわかるコンピュータソフトを作_[つく]ったのです。

 

過信_[かしん]状態_{[じょうたい]}の中_[なか]にいると、人_[ひと]は正_[ただ]しい判断_{[はんだん]}ができません。だから、コンピュータソフトに「過信_[かしん]状態_{[じょうたい]}ですよ～」と知_[し]らせてもらえなければ、過信_[かしん]であることに気付_[きづ]きません(kiduku means to notice)。

 

これまでも、詐欺_[さぎ]会話_[かいわ] を見_[み]つけるコンピュータソフトはありました。でも、これまでのソフトは、詐欺師_[さぎし]の話_[はなし]のボキャブラリーしか分析[ぶんせき]できませんでした（例_[たと]えば、補償_{[ほしょう]} (= compensation)、お金_[かね]をすぐに振_[ふ]り込_[こ]む(= to make a deposit immediately)、など）。ボキャブラリーだけでは、詐欺_[さぎ]会話_[かいわ]を正確_{[せいかく]}に(= accurately)見_[み]つけられませんでした。でも、今_[いま]のソフトは、電話_[でんわ]の受_[う]け手_[て] (= receiver)、つまり被害者_{[ひがいしゃ]} (= victim)の会話_[かいわ]の特徴_{[とくちょう]}も一緒_{[いっしょ]}に分析_{[ぶんせき]}します。そして、詐欺_[さぎ]会話_[かいわ]を見_[み]つける成功率_{[せいこうりつ]} (= success rate)がとても高_[たか]くなったそうです。

 

言語学_{[げんごがく]}の研究_{[けんきゅう]} (= linguistics studies)がすばらしいソフトを作_[つく]ったというわけです!

 

There have been a lot of fraud cases using telephone reported in Japan. Nagoya University and Fujitsu (the company is famous for air conditioning in New Zealand, but this company also supplies computers and computer-related products) have studied the conversations in those cases and managed to deliver a new detective software! Isn’t it amazing!

 

The official website of Fujitsu describes how the software works (in Japanese…). In those fraud cases, con men normally give their targeted people (= their imminent victim) a lot of surprising information at once like machine gun shooting. For example:   Your son had a traffic accident. He needs big money now!. When people receive such information in such a manner, they fall in a psychological state called “kashin” (this word is Japanese which literally means “over-belief”. Since I am not a psychologist, I am not sure how I should translate this into English. Please let me know, if you can help me on this!!!). When people fall in this type of psychological state, they lose their proper skills of judgment. Then the pitch and/or volume of their voice changes. The research team formed with Nagoya University and Fujitsu has examined the characteristics of the voices in such a psychological state and then now have managed to produce a computer software which can detect those characteristics.

 

When people are in “kashin” state, they do not have proper judgment; therefore, they need to be told that they are in “kashin” state. Otherwise, they would not realise until it would be too late (money would be stolen by then)!

 

There was some computer software which dealt with such fraud conversations in the past. But they only analysed vocabulary of the swindlers (the software picked words like “compensation” and so on). This type of analysis did not give good detecting rate. However, the new software analyses the vocabulary as well as “kashin” state of the phone call receivers (i.e., potential victims) and its detecting  rate is incredibly high.

 

This is a wonderful outcome from linguistics studies!!