Hancom launches mobile messenger - based translation app SEOUL , April 5 ( Yonhap ) -- Hancom Inc . , a South Korean software maker , said Wednesday that it has launched an artificial intelligence ( AI ) powered mobile messenger application that translates conversations in a foreign language . The app , available both on the Android and iOS operating systems , instantly translates texts between Korean and English , the company said . The service will be available in Chinese and Japanese sometime soon . The homegrown software firm said it has applied a Neural Machine Translation ( NMT ) system to the translation platform to improve translation quality and reduce errors . The NMT system is based on a deep learning framework that learns from millions of examples . Unlike previous machine translations , the new system considers an entire sentence as one unit . Previous systems independently translated words and phrases within a sentence . " The company plans to make inroads into the overseas messenger market by adding more functions other than the AI - based translation function , " said Lee Ga - bi , a Hancom official . The company , well - known among South Koreans for its mainstay word processing computer software based on the Korean language , has been improving its translation software , " Genie Talk , " to tap deeper into the burgeoning auto - translation market . Earlier , the company unveiled a new interpretation wearable . The neckband - style device , which comes with a wireless Bluetooth headset and a microphone , allows a user to talk with people who speak other languages through " Genie Talk . " khj @ yna . co . kr ( END )