Skype Translator

Skype Translator is a speech to speech translation application developed by Skype, which has operated as a division of Microsoft since 2011.[1] Skype Translator Preview has been publicly available since December 15, 2014.[2] Skype Translator is available as a standalone app and, as of October 2015, is integrated into the Skype for Windows desktop app.

Skype Translator was built on developments in deep neural networks[3][4] for speech recognition and Microsoft Translator’s statistical machine translation[5][6] technology. Users converse in their native languages, and the speech is translated from one language to the other in “near real-time”,[7][8] with the output translation presented by computer-generated speech synthesis. The current version supports speech translation to and from English, French,[9] German, Chinese (Mandarin), Italian,[10] Spanish,[11] Portuguese, and Arabic.

The application also features on-screen text transcripts of the spoken phrases in their original language along with the translation. In addition, Skype Translator supports Skype Instant Message, which can translate users’ instant messages into 51 languages supported by Microsoft Translator.[12][13]

In October 2015, Skype announced[14] that Skype Translator has been integrated into Skype for Windows desktop. This functionality is available to users following automatic updates to their Skype desktop app.

In March 2016, Microsoft Translator announced[15] that the API that powers Skype Translator would be publicly available as service for businesses that want to add speech translation to their custom apps and solutions.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rooney, Ben. "Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.5 billion".
  2. ↑ Van Allen, Fox (15 December 2014). "Microsoft Launches 'Skype Translator Preview'.". Technilicious.
  3. ↑ Hernandez, Pedro (15 December 2014). "Microsoft's Skype Translator Provides On-the-Fly Translations. Say "Hola." Microsoft seeks to demolish language barriers with a preview of its near-real-time translator technology.". eWeek.
  4. ↑ "Skype Translator: Breaking down language barriers".
  5. ↑ Thurrott, Paul (15 December 2014). "Microsoft Launches Skype Translator Preview. Habla Español?". SuperSite for Windows.
  6. ↑ "Milestones on the path to Skype Translator". Microsoft Research.
  7. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo (8 June 2015). "Microsoft to integrate Skype Translator functionality into its Skype desktop apps. Microsoft is folding its Skype Translator real-time translation technology into the desktop versions of its Skype apps for PCs, starting with the Windows 8.1 version.". ZDNet.
  8. ↑ Lowensohn, Josh. "Skype shown automatically translating multilingual voice calls". The Verge.
  9. ↑ "Bienvenue dans la version bêta de Skype Translator" (in French).
  10. ↑ Whitney, Lance (8 April 2015). "Skype Translator adds Mandarin and Italian to its repertoire. The translation feature for the Internet-calling service now speaks the languages of Beijing and Rome. But the translator is still available only in preview mode.". CNet.
  11. ↑ "Skype Translator Preview".
  12. ↑ Shaw, Ray (11 August 2015). "Microsoft now speaks 50 languages – use almost any device.". IT Wire.
  13. ↑ "Skype Translator unveils the magic to more people around the world".
  14. ↑ "Microsoft Translator brings end-to-end speech translation to everyone with the world’s first Speech Translation API".

External links


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