next time a chinese waiter looks at you expectantly and says: "ni xian dian shen me," all you have to do is reach for your mobile. not only will it tell you that your waiter is asking what you want you want to order; it will translate your order into chinese. or japanese, or german.
the system, called verbmobil, can translate basic spoken english, japanese, chinese and german almost instantaneously. it operates over a standard mobile phone network just dial the number, get the waiter to speak into the phone, and listen when it translates his words back to you.