14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will soon roll out a new application that will allow translation of voice calls in real-time, which basically allows two people speaking different languages to communicate with each other easier.
Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella presented the new technology at the Code conference yesterday and revealed that, while still in beta, a full version was very likely to be unveiled later this year and released to users soon after that.
Nadella explained that the new translation option might not be offered for free, at least not from the very beginning, but Microsoft's main focus is currently the work on adding more languages.
Gurdeep Pall, Microsoft's VP of Skype and Lync, explained today that Redmond worked on such technologies “for more than a decade,” but the actual technology came to be in the last four years. At the same time, Microsoft engineers also tried to improve speech recognition, a feature that's not only helpful for this new app, but also for some other services in Microsoft's lineup, including Cortana.
Microsoft's Cortana, which is currently available on Windows Phone 8.1 exclusively, is rumored to be released to tablets and PCs running modern Windows sometime in the near future, but aside from a few teasers, Redmond has remained completely tight-lipped on this subject.
The demo put on stage yesterday showcased what Microsoft calls “near real-time” audio translation from English to German and vice versa, and used Skype voice features, Microsoft Translation and speech recognition.
Skype Translator will be first rolled out as a beta app for Windows 8 by year-end, while all the other platforms should get it in the coming years as well. The large user base of Skype is clearly a major advantage, and since this service is already available across a wide array of platforms, real-time call translation could really take off on the long term.
“It is early days for this technology, but the Star Trek™ vision for a Universal Translator isn’t a galaxy away, and its potential is every bit as exciting as those Star Trek examples. Skype Translator opens up so many possibilities to make meaningful connections in ways you never could before in education, diplomacy, multilingual families and in business,” Gurdeep Pall explained.
Microsoft is not the only company that builds such a service, which could be an indication that competition is getting fiercer when it comes to technologies capable of translating voice calls in real-time. The Japanese engineers at Docomo also launched a similar technology that works between English and Japanese, while text-based translation services are already used by millions, including Google's very own service.
Microsoft, however, plans to make the most of Skype by making the new feature available for its entire user base, which would clearly be a decisive factor in the way such technologies could perform in the future.
“Today, we have more than 300 million connected users each month, and more than 2 billion minutes of conversation a day as Skype breaks down communications barriers by delivering voice and video across a number of devices, from PCs and tablets, to smartphones and TVs. But language barriers have been a blocker to productivity and human connection; Skype Translator helps us overcome this barrier,” Microsoft exec pointed out.