There are as many as 7000 different languages spoken on earth in this day and age. Of course, most of us are lucky enough to come across a hundred different languages being spoken to us in our lifetime. But the vast majority of languages (some of which could be chalked down to dialects) does point out a major problem. Understanding one another. A universal translator is something you expect to see in a Star Trek movie, not in our day and age, but Microsoft is trying to prove us wrong with the Microsoft Translator app.
The Microsoft Translator app is something the company has been working hard on for the past year or so. In that timespan, the company has introduced offline functionality and two device interfacing for the app. Now, the company has launched a new feature that will help you communicate with large groups of people, who each may speak a different language.
All users have to do is start a conversation via the app by logging in and entering your name & language. Users can then share the conversation code to up to 100 other people, who can join the conversation either via the app or the website. Then any of the 100 users can speak or chat in their language, which will be translated to the native language of other app users. As shown in the video above, this can be handy in many situations, from tour guides sharing their country’s culture and history to more dire situations, such as refugees migrating to your country.
Currently, the app still has certain limitations. The number of languages being one. There are only 60 languages that are currently supported when it comes to text and only 9 when it comes to speech translation. However, it still shows the leaps and bounds neural networking affords us as the technology helps understand words in context to provide meaningful and accurate translations.
“ls the quality perfect? No. Is the setup totally seamless? No. But really, once you get set up, you have a universal translator experience amongst multiple people talking in multiple languages.”
– Olivier Fontana, director of product strategy for Microsoft Translator.
You can get the Microsoft Translator app for iOS, Android, Amazon and Windows Phone, or by visiting this site.
