海角大神

Skype now offers the ability to speak seven different languages.

Microsoft has completed rolling out to all Windows users, according to a new press release. The video and voice calling platform, founded in Estonia in 2003 and purchased by Microsoft in 2011, now offers a global range of languages available for real-time translation over video chat and text.聽

Skype Translator is currently available for free for all Windows users. Available languages for real time translation over video chat include Mandarin, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.聽

"We launched Skype Translator preview just over a year ago in partnership with聽," the blog post reads. "Skype Translator has come a long way since then."

Skype launched its Skype Translator preview roughly a year ago in December in partnership with Microsoft Translator. The stated goal of the program was 鈥渢o make it possible for people they speak,鈥� according to a Skype press release from 2014. The preview started with two languages, Spanish and English. By June, when Skype announced the Skype Translator would be coming to the Windows desktop app, the preview featured four languages, English, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin.聽According to Skype鈥檚 latest release, the current most popular language translation is French to English.

The real-time translator works in video chats. During the demonstration at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in 2014, with a brief pause after they finished speaking. A computerized voice would then translate what they had said and a small window at the bottom of the screen displayed the translation in text.

Though presenters spoke carefully and clearly, some small errors could be seen in the translations. The how-to video released by Skype in October also and leaving enough time for the translator. The software filters out most 鈥渦m"s and 鈥渁h"s before translation.

Skype Translator offers an exciting tool for cross-language communication with potential, but still , J聽of the MIT Technology Review reported, sometimes struggling to determine聽the meaning of a word based on context.

鈥淚f software is translating between American and British English, and it recognizes the word 鈥榝ootball,鈥� it also needs to know when to change it to 鈥榮occer鈥� and when to keep it as 鈥榝ootball鈥� or 鈥榞ridiron,鈥欌�� says聽, a professor of linguistics and computer science in Stanford University鈥檚 Natural Language Processing Group, explained to the MIT Technology Review.聽

The team behind the Skype Translator is also aware that the system isn鈥檛 perfect.聽Vikram Dendi, strategy director at Microsoft Research, told the MIT Technology Review some of the struggles.

When we watch these things in action on TV [as on聽Star Trek], it seems so obvious: you just speak and it comes out translated. But when you start digging into the actual implementation and put it in people鈥檚 hands to use, there are so many little details that can make or break the experience聽

Skype said at the launch of Skype Translator preview in 2014 the feature relies on machine learning, 鈥渨hich means that the more the technology is used, .鈥�

Beyond the seven languages available for voice-to-voice translation, fifty languages are also available for translation via text-to-text translation. Those translations take place over texting between instant messages on Skype.