Humans have long struggled to communicate with those who speak another language. And while Skype Translator isn't exactly a modern day Tower of Babel, it's a notable progression toward universal linguistic understanding.
Translator has been available in preview for Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 since December. But it arrives today on the Windows desktop Skype app.
Real-time translation now works in six spoken languages—English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, and Spanish—any of which can speak with any of the others. The feature can also translate 50 languages via Skype's instant text messaging. Microsoft is slowly rolling this out to users in the next couple of weeks, so not everyone will have it immediately. The Windows desktop software is getting it first, but it will appear in Skype's many other clients—iOS, Android, Mac, and more—at a later date. The desktop version runs in Windows 7 and later.
PCMag got some time with Skype Translator's lead, Lilian Rincon, at Microsoft's New York offices, and tried out a conversation with an Italian speaker.
"Everyone who has seen it is really wowed by it," said Rincon. "Translator has been decades in the making, it's one of the hero projects of Microsoft Research." When asked if third-party technologies were used, she said "it's all Microsoft tech, from speech detection, translation using natural language learning, and then text to speech."
The same team that works on Cortana's speech-to-text engine is involved in Skype Translator's language recognition. Rincon noted that the translation feature is still labeled as being "in preview," since it's not expected to be perfect, but it will improve as more people use it. "We've really focused on this release on making it as natural a Skype experience as possible," said Rincon.
When you use Skype Translator's spoken translation, you'll still see the speech to text for each side's language, and there's a pause between the time one user speaks and Skype renders the other language. This takes some getting used to, but there's a great language-learning potential there. In fact, Skype has a Skype in the Classroom program with a Mystery Skype game in which students have to guess where a far-flung class is located.
For more on the VoIP and videoconference application and service, read PCMag's full review of Skype for Windows, which will be updated with the Translator information soon.