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Wednesday, September i6, 1998

it’s showtime!

clal grand opening.

grave, in Cinema 2.

tures and showtimes.

* By Maria Koropecky_

"News Review Contributor

From the humble begin-

nings ofa two-man operation in ©:
-agarage to 24 million dollars in’:
_- trade deals, TCC Communica--
"tions: Corporation. has..trans-
.. slated an idea into a successful
: -business venture. a
“Headed by 44-year-o d J ohn é
: "Grayson, “TCC, located just off:

Keating Industrial Parkin Cen-:

tral: Saanich; is in the busines

TELEtranslator, «
which Aatomativally translates

“English shows into Spanish,

using existing closed-captions.

‘So far, the apparatus that sits.
on top of any television set.is
only proficient in Spanish, Ac-

‘cording to Grayson, Spanish. :
“was a natural first choice since.
- it is the third largest spoken

language in the world and in
terms of the largest language
groups, Spanish speaking
countries are the closest mar-
“ket to Canada.
The idea for the TELEtrans-

lator originated in 1989 after :

Grayson met with a man from
‘Mexico who told him he was
getting a headache trying to

understand all of the various ”

accents spoken on TV,
. $0 Grayson and his partner
‘went to work and developed a.

“ contraption that translated:

Catch

Wednesday is the last right to
catch a $5 sneak peak movie at
the new theater before the offi-

Mayor Don Amos will cut the rib-
bon and formally welcome the
new theater to Sidney on Thurs-
day, Sept. 17.The Star Cinema of-
ficially opens for business on Fri-..
day, Sept. 18 with the premier of
Jackie Chan’s new comedy Rush
Hour in Cinema 1 and Mrs. Dal-
loway, starring Vanessa Red-.

The premier for its first-run movie
is thanks to Alilance Films. firs.
Dalloway is a period piece based
on the Virginia Woolf novel.
Programming at the cinema is an-
ticlpated to change on a weekly
basis and will include a Sunday
matinee. Every week, in the up-
per right hand corner of page 7, |
The Review will list current fea-

. of developing and making the .. The faces behind

“device.

re?

tlons: ‘Corporation ‘staff from it to rt President John
Grayson, Michael. Thiessen, Lisa Pidruchney, Ron,
Schwarz and Devlan Nicholson...

English into Spanish, word for
word. “We thought. that-was
just great,” said Grayson as he
locked his hands together, But
the man from Mexico wasn’t
impressed; He asked Grayson
to see if he can teach the com:
puter to translate complete sen-
tences,

Grayson went back to his
garage in Deep Cove and four
years later, the high tech com-

pany in conjunction with the Si-
mon Fraser University’s Nat-
ural Language Lab, developed .
new language dictionaries and ©:

entered miles of codes to allow
the computer to select proper

usage of every word within the:

context of a sentence in either
English or Spanish,
In January. of this year,

iP

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er «
ae
YY.

Available at al ul service Victoria locations,

a yd ucphey errr seoupeerey
mnt chats chit wel

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oe Se

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i ‘oan

" Dal iy
[Int Sarees in ued 0c) ot LL

~ Grayson, who always enjoyed
‘new technology. and: got. in-
volved in electronics as a child.

by building small hobby kits,
took his TELEtranslator to
South America as part of Team
Canada's 1998 trade mission,
The towering man with a gen-
tle face and spit-shined shoes
negotiated lucrative trade deals
supplying Mexico and Brazil
with 40,000 units that provide

Spanish subtitles for English

movies and television shows.

Prime Minister Jean Chre-
tien was also a key player in the
South American conference
and Grayson was impressed by
the 17- to 18-hour days the
politicians worked to make the
mission worthwhile,

The success of the TELE: ;

1 our Fish’n ies ak
Ca Il 310-§ spoT Chien’ ane your favourite Wie Spot

I

ture’ of his company. ;
of dealing with export markets,»

-a small company like TCC has |
“tosbe prepared for: good times ae

fee nie setter cate

The tas are Tee tie y p ah pee ey
fiat bs itquee yi beats Ebay UE git ae Has ad wie ' hak ‘

LOCAL NEWS

fanslaior did not inflate
Grayson’s ego to any degree.
~. He admits it made him a little

- bit nervous. “T know for a fact.
~ Latin American markets are—
_ like a roller coaster.”

Grayson, “whose » : back-

s ground i is in Communications,
~. explains what happened after
~ Brazil lost the World Cup soc:
cer: game. “Brazil's ‘economy.
: -tooka. a downward spinand asa

‘He’s cautious about the

and bad times.”

TCC is working to pid 7

the technology to the new digi-
tal TV systems and will add new

~ languages as soon as possible.

“You will then be able to se-
lect French or Italian, Spanish
or Chinese or any other lan-
guage — even Inuit, why not?
That's what we're working on
right now.”

The TELEtranslator - is

- specifically being marketed in

the US to Hispanic Americans

“whose television shows are in

English 95 per cent of the time.
“Tn an ideal. world, you

~ ghould be able to watch TV.

‘programs in any language you
want,”

a ree alwei10% ott your mane.
1 su nerasnmenatceninanucssnis

i iu
vl ‘ik cite

PENINSULA NEWS REVIEW 43

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>DAYTOURS .
Sept. 23 - Indian Arm Cruise $125 SNR. .
Sept. 30 - Mass Appeal, Chemainus Theatre $68 Capital
Oct. 8 - Wine & Harvest in Cowichan Valley$58. | 7 BURS
Nov. 2 - Return to Yellow Point Lodge $57 ————

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#2- 2310 Beacon Ave., Sidney
Toll Free 1- 800- 223- 5256

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across. from, Sherwood: Marine

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