The new Skype Translator app enables Spanish and English speakers to communicate in their native languages.
The Skype Translator app is the newest enhancement to the service's voice and video chat, allowing users to speak in different languages and still communicate.
The app currently supports the English and Spanish languages, available as a preview demo by request. A Skype Translator demo was previously showcased using English and German, but the latter will be replaced by Spanish as the feature is user-tested in the US (yahoo.com).
The functional app is available for Windows 8.1, and to a certain extent, Windows 10 builds. Microsoft confirmed research on machine translation is ongoing for the past decade, and the prospect of translating voice over Skype was previously considered a nearly impossible task.
A breakthrough came in 2010, in a project that made over-the-phone translation possible. Another project enhanced voice recognition accuracy, which made voice-activated features like Cortana possible.
The first Skype Translator demo of the technology was at a Microsoft conference in Tianjin, China, in 2012. Research chief Rich Rashid hosted a live demo which translated English voice into Mandarin.
Other companies have also made progress in voice translation. Japanese wireless carrier NTT Docomo offered something similar for Japanese-English translations in 2011. Google is also on the bandwagon, with a text translator already featured in Google Search.
The Skype Translator app is a standout because of the breadth of its reach; Microsoft claims a total of 300 million users for the service per month, and over 2 billion minutes of talk time spent a day (theverge.com).
Microsoft will also translate instant messaging conversations through the Skype Translator app; an estimated 40 languages are supported in the feature.
The Skype Translator download is currently available by invite, though; those interested need to send a request at the Microsoft Skype website. The app is currently being tested on US and Mexican schoolrooms.
