The immensely popular internet phone and messaging service Skype has approximately 300 million monthly global users. For its next trick, the Microsoft-owned service plans to break down language barriers by automatically translating multilingual voice calls. This bold claim is backed up by some impressive technology.
Usinga combination ofexistingspeech recognition, text-to-speech and machine- translation technology, the program will translate any word you utter into a text format of the desired language. Current translation programs use a similar system but can currently only work if they are in the same room. The new Skype software will look to change that, allowing for fully translated international calls.
One stumbling block is the vast amount of different dialects and accents used all over the globe. Because of this, some say there will always be a need for human interpreters as computers can never be completely accurate to detect the really subtle language variations.
The translator is scheduled to be released for the public on Windows 8 by the end of the year, though you can sign up for the Preview version. Other companies such as Lexifone, Google and NTT DoCoMo are working on a similar system. Skype Translator is intended to help in all areas from education to business to international relations. Or maybe just to help you and your German exchange buddy communicate better.
Usinga combination ofexistingspeech recognition, text-to-speech and machine- translation technology, the program will translate any word you utter into a text format of the desired language. Current translation programs use a similar system but can currently only work if they are in the same room. The new Skype software will look to change that, allowing for fully translated international calls.
One stumbling block is the vast amount of different dialects and accents used all over the globe. Because of this, some say there will always be a need for human interpreters as computers can never be completely accurate to detect the really subtle language variations.
The translator is scheduled to be released for the public on Windows 8 by the end of the year, though you can sign up for the Preview version. Other companies such as Lexifone, Google and NTT DoCoMo are working on a similar system. Skype Translator is intended to help in all areas from education to business to international relations. Or maybe just to help you and your German exchange buddy communicate better.
