Skype just got cooler than ever seeing as the app can do the job of a real time translator while you’re on a voice call. There’s probably no better way of breaking down language barriers than this. Microsoft seems to be doing quite well for itself since Satya Nadella took over.
We mean, the company has been hitting a few high notes in the right direction, barring that one big blooper Nadella let slip on the issue of women’s pay. Coming back to Skype Translator Preview, it’s obviously not a final version of the software. So you should be expecting some bumps here and there.
As Microsoft admits in its official blog post, the technology will be dependent on machine learning in order to bloom. This means that the more people use it, the smarter it will become over time. Those who are on Windows 8.1 and have also signed up for Skype Translator can get to try out the tool for themselves. The beta program can only handle English and Spanish at present.
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But there are plans to bring more than 40 languages to Skype Translator in the future. In the video posted below, students from two different schools, one is a Spanish speaking group and the other is an English speaking classroom, are playing a game. Each has to try and find out in which place the other school is located.
Microsoft claims to have made a lot of bets on automatic translation, speech recognition, machine learning and similar technologies. Skype Translator Preview is just one small example of what can be done by the company with regards to this field.