Could Skype be the universal translator we've been waiting for? Yesterday at the inaugural Code Conference in Ranchos Palos Verdes CA, Microsoft revealed its plan to introduce real-time language translation on its popular video conferencing platform later this year.
At the conference, Microsoft demoed Skype Translator with a real-time translation of an audio conversation from English to German and German to English. If successfu,l this would open up communication without the need for years of language training and would a boon for global productivity.
Breakthroughs in Microsoft's translation software come from 10 years of development, working on Bing translation and voice recognition software for the Kinect. Gurdeep Pall, Corporate Vice President of Skype and Lync at Microsoft said that his team was inspired by the Universal Translator from Star Trek and are hoping to make the dream of seamless instant translation a reality.
The translator will be available first as a Windows 8 beta before moving to other platforms like smartphones and tablets.
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.