Windows users will suddenly find themselves able to speak seven different languages, as Microsoft’s real time translation technology is now available to everyone with Skype for Windows installed.
Skype’s feature translates speech between languages very nearly as it’s spoken. The app currently supports live voice translation in English, Chinese Mandarin, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Skype wrote in a blog post that it’s “working to roll out new languages and platforms,” while its text-to-text translation works with more than 50 languages.
Skype users on Windows can start translating by clicking on the globe icon in the upper righthand corner of the app. Users who don’t see this symbol should make sure their Skype app is up to date.
See How Microsoft Windows Has Evolved Over 30 Years
Windows 1.0 The seminal version of Windows released on November 20, 1985. Users could run programs in multiple windows simultaneously, sparing them the nuisance of quitting one application before launching another one.MicrosoftWindows 95 released on August 24, 1995, equipping users with their first Start menu, as well as minimize and maximize buttons. Roughly 8 in 10 of the world's PC's were running Windows at the time of its release.MicrosoftWindows 2000 launched on February 17, 2000. Rocker Carlos Santana performed his song "Smooth" at the launch party, but the rollout proved bumpy due to several hack attacks that made headline news. Microsoft was forced into defense, releasing security patches throughout the product's lifecycle.MicrosoftWindows Vista released on January 30, 2007, on the heels of the massive success of Windows XP. Vista proved to be a harder sell. Despite security improvements and graphical flourishes, such as transparent window panes and smoother animations, corporate users blanched at the initial price tag and the onerous licensing requirements. Adoption rates flagged as users stuck to their older versions of WindowsMicrosoftWindows 7 released on October 22, 2009 to rave reviews and a palpable sense of relief that Microsoft had recovered from the missteps of Windows Vista. The system introduced a new "Snap" feature that enabled users to easily snap windows into place, side-by-side, for easy multitasking. It also debuted touch gestures in response to the burgeoning market for touchscreen devices.MicrosoftWindows 8 released on October 26, 2012, attempted to radically redesign the start screen with "Live Tiles," a grid of commonly used apps designed for easy touching. The vast majority of Windows users continued to use the desktop PC's, however, and found the redesign, particularly the loss of the Start button, disorienting.MicrosoftWindows 8.1 released on 17, 2013, attempts to bridge the chasm gap between touch and PC interfaces, offering users their choice of Start screens. By now, tech pundits have a theory: every release of Windows alternates between hits and misses, setting expectations high for the next version, Windows 10.MicrosoftWindows 10 which released on July 29, 2015, blends the familiar layout of Windows 7 with touch features from Windows 8. The Start menu makes a grand reentrance, with Live Tiles discreetly tucked inside. Cortana, Microsoft's speech-activated assistant for smartphones, will also debut across all devices.Microsoft
Skype says French-to-English has been the most popular language pair so far. Meanwhile, the number of calls on the service has increased by 400% since Skype Translator’s launch.
Microsoft’s technology gets better at comprehending new languages over time thanks to machine learning, which enables computers to figure out how to complete new tasks without human intervention. With machine learning, algorithms learn what to do in the future based on what was experienced in the past, as this document from a Princeton University computer science course explains.
