Microsoft has introduced Skype Translator's test version that interprets conversation in English and Spanish in real time.
"Skype brings people together to make progress on what matters to them," Gurdeep Pall, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President for Lync and Skype, said in a blog post. "Skype Translator will open up endless possibilities for people around the world to connect, communicate and collaborate." He also added that language and geography will not be a hindrance among people.
"Skype Translator is the result of 10 years investment of Microsoft," Pall said.
It has been tested among school children in Stafford Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington and Peterson School in Mexico City. The children in one classroom speak English while the other speaks Spanish. They played Mystery Skype game where they ask questions in Spanish and English and determine the location of the other school.
The service of Skype Translator is offered in Spanish and English but Microsoft said that it will be available in additional languages sooner. The preview version can be use only on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. When Skype Translator happens to be official, users can finally translate additional languages like Portuguese, Mandarin, French, Italian, Russian, German, Cantonese, Arabic and more.
"Skype Translator is a great example of the benefit of Microsoft's investment in research," said Pall. "We've invested in speech recognition, automatic translation and machine learning technologies for more than a decade and now they're emerging as important components in this more personal computing era."
"Skype Translator uses machine learning technologies, automatic translation, and speech recognition. Using the technology more will make it smarter," Pall said.
For those who have signed up on this page of Skype Translator and using Windows 8.1, there are more than 40 languages in instant messaging that are available for them. There are 300 million active users of Skype daily according to Microsoft.