By Barry Eitel
SAN FRANCISCO
Video-chatting service Skype launched a preview program of its live translating software Monday.
The new Skype Translator offers real-time translation of spoken and text conversation.
The preview is open to Skype users with Windows 8.1 on a desktop or mobile device and currently offers spoken translation for English and Spanish, but translates more than 40 languages in instant messaging.
As the program rolls out, Skype plans to add more spoken and text translation. The company has discussed and briefly demonstrated its translator for several months.
Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011. Research conducted by the tech giant in speech recognition and machine learning technology helped Skype develop the project.
“Using innovations from Microsoft Research, Skype is now removing another barrier to make it possible for people to communicate irrespective of what language they speak,” wrote Gurdeep Pall, corporate vice president for Skype, in a blog post published Monday.
The software powering Skype Translator “learns” – the quality of the translation becomes better as more and more customers utilize the translator, honing the program’s understanding of language.
In a video that showcased the preview, students from elementary schools in the United States and Mexico asked each other questions through Skype, one group spoke English and the other spoke Spanish, respectively. As the students attempted to figure out where the others are located, their speech was translated instantly.
“This is just the beginning of a journey that will transform the way we communicate with people around the world,” Pall added. “Our long-term goal for speech translation is to translate as many languages as possible on as many platforms as possible and deliver the best Skype Translator experience on each individual platform for our more than 300 million connected users.”
Because the software is improved by use, Skype has asked its large community to adopt Translator, which in turn will expedite more language releases, the company claimed.
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