NEW YORK: Microsoft’s Skype software has started translating voice calls between people. As part of a preview programmed, Skype Translator makes it possible for English and Spanish speakers to communicate in their native language, without having to learn a new one
Skype Translator Preview works on Windows 8.1 or preview copies of Windows 10 and it works by translating voice input from an English or Spanish speaker into text and translated audio. An English speaker will hear a translation from a Spanish speaker and vice versa. Microsoft previously demonstrated the technology working between English and German, but Spanish is the only language outside of English that is initially supported during the preview.
Microsoft is marketing Skype Translator as a tool for schools and the company tested it out with students in the US and Mexico. Skype is already popular in the classroom, with teachers participating in video conferences around the world to connect their schools to classrooms across the globe. While tests and demonstrations have been in limited and controlled experiments, Microsoft’s move opens up its Skype Translator to a much wider audience to test it in the real world
