Jean-Franois Dumon and Alamanga have developed ‘Aaou’, an application for iPhone and iPodTouch which allows a quick translation of hieroglyphs. The iPhone app over 10,000 words or symbols to – depending on your iPhone settings – French or English. the translation in French / English of more than 10200 words and symbols and offers the possiblity of transliteration. ‘Aaou’ also allows you access through an index, to the uni/bi/triliterals as well as to an aide memory on the common hieroglyphs. The Aaou Hieroglyph Dictionary is priced at 4.99 euro and – of course – available via the iTunes app store.
For those of you who speak French, a short video presentation of the application can be found on Dumon’s homepage. This seems like a splendid idea for a ‘basic’ translation tool that you easily carry along – be it to Egypt or to a museum. Has anybody tested it yet? Or should I purchase the app, jump on the tube to the British Museum and start – attempting at – translating the Rosetta stone? I would be out of the office for quite a while… . Guess I better stick to my ‘improve the 2MP camera’ apps (some of those listed here).
PS. If you can chose – $3.99 for a ‘conversational Klingon’ (dictionary, phrasebook and pronounciation guide) iPhone app or 4.99 Euros for the Aaou Hieroglyph Dictionary – which one would you pick? Bennu? 😉