UPDATED 23:04 EDT / DECEMBER 15 2014

NEWS

Skype Translator preview goes live: Spanish-English spoken, 40 languages written

skype translatorMicrosoft Corp.’s Skype division has launched a preview version of its new Skype Translator, a service that allows realtime translation from one language to the next.

The tool, which Microsoft has been working on for over ten years is said by the company to “break down geographical barriers to make every day audio and video communications possible…removing another barrier to make it possible for people to communicate irrespective of what language they speak.”

Along with English and Spanish spoken translation, the preview release of Skype Translator provides on-the-fly translation for 40 written languages for participants in Skype chats, in theory making it possible for people to speak in different languages in real time.

“Microsoft was one of the first to delve into the challenge of speech translation,” Microsoft’s  said. “Recent improvements in speech recognition, made possible by the introduction of deep neural networks combined with Microsoft’s proven statistical machine translation technology, allow for better translation outcomes, making meaningful one-on-one conversation possible. Skype is about helping people communicate – mind to mind, heart to heart. Skype Translator is the latest evolution of this.”

Interestingly the company is pitching the service to the education sector at first, with a video demonstration using school children talking to each other over Skype. Without having had a chance to test the service, first impressions are that it is no Bablefish of Douglas Adams fame as the demo involves basic speech; you can’t see it being particularly useful in business transactions yet unless you’re prone to speak slowly, or at an 8 year old’s level.

But that is not to be unkind: it’s a first release of a technology which with time and refinement may one day deliver a truly universal translator, long the dream of many a futurist and science fiction writer.

You can sign up for Skype Translator here; note that it’s currently only available for Windows 8.1.

Img credit: Microsoft.


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU