New Skype tool translates languages as you speak

Skype has released the beta
version of Translator, its
groundbreaking tool that
translates languages being
spoken in real time.
It provides instant spoken
and text translations as you
chat with someone via a video
link (see screenshot right),
although for now it
only translates Spanish into
English, and vice versa. It
works on Windows 8.1 and 10.
It’s been trialled on school
children in Mexico City and
Tacoma in the US state of
Washington, with one
classroom speaking Spanish
and the other English.
The program works by
comparing your speech with
millions of recorded audio
samples. It recognises and
removes speech “disfluencies”,
such as “um” and “er”.

Announcing the launch on
the Skype blog (www.snipca.
com/14865), Gurdeep Pall
wrote: “Skype Translator relies
on machine learning, which
means that the more the
technology is used, the
smarter it gets”.
He added: “This is just the
beginning of a journey that
will transform the way we
communicate with people
around the world. Our
long-term goal for speech
translation is to translate
as many languages as
possible on as many platforms
as possible”.

Skype hopes to make
Translator work with 40
languages, including Klingon,
which will delight the most
dedicated Star Trek fans.
To try the Skype Translator
beta, you have to register on
the site (www.snipca.com/
14861). Skype will ask you
which device you currently
use it on, and which
languages you’re “interested
in”. Selecting these will help
Skype decide which languages
to add to the service next.
We will test Translator in an
upcoming issue.