Abstract: Speech into a telephone is converted from an analog to a digital signal using voice recognition and the output shown as text on a visual display. An error may be identified and a supplementary phrase substituted by speech in correction. Closing of a transmit switch sends the digital signal to a computer having linguistic translation software which translates the message into a second language. The resultant linguistically translated digital signal is converted to analog using speech synthesis and sent via a public exchange telephone line to a receiving user who requires only a conventional telephone to receive the translated message and may respond in the second language. The response is converted to a digital signal using voice recognition and translated into the original language by the linguistic translation software. The linguistically translated response is converted into an analog signal with speech synthesis and heard in the original language by the original transmitting user.