Microsoft announced today that all Skype for Windows users will now get the Skype Translator tool integrated into the app. Until now, customers had to use a separate app for translating voice-to-voice conversations in seven languages (Chinese Mandarin, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish) and 50 messaging languages. Today’s announcement is a giant milestone for the Translator service.
Skype Translator was launched just over a year ago, in December 2014, by the folks at Skype in partnership with Microsoft Translator. Talks about real-time implementation of the service began in the summer of 2015 and by October, we saw the official rollout of the app.
The service is however still far from perfect. But since it relies on machine learning, the more it is used, the more it will improve. Usage will surely spike now as all Windows users will be able to access the service. This means the service will be getting better by the second.
Skype says that they are currently working bringing the translation feature to more native apps and implementing a wider bandwidth of languages.
To start using the Translator, first make sure that you have the latest version of Skype downloaded. If not, head over here and download the same. Next, click on the globe in the upper right hand corner of the app and voila, your conversations will be automatically translated.
The company hasn’t yet talked about implementation of the Translator service on other platforms. Only time will tell if Android and iOS users will get to enjoy this service.
