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Communications Microsoft United States Technology

Skype Unveils Preview of Live English-To-Spanish Translator 99

Posted by timothy from the stick-this-in-your-ear dept.
mpicpp writes that Microsoft, after demoing the technology back in May, is giving some real-world exposure to its Skype-based translation. The Skype preview program will kick-off with two spoken languages, Spanish and English, and 40+ instant messaging languages will be available to Skype customers who have signed-up via the Skype Translator sign-up page and are using Windows 8.1 on the desktop or device. Skype asked two schools to try Skype Translator – Peterson School in Mexico City, and Stafford Elementary School in Tacoma, USA – playing a game of 'Mystery Skype' in which the children ask questions to determine the location of the other school. One classroom of children speaking Spanish and the other speaking English, Skype Translator removed this language barrier and enabled them to communicate.
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Skype Unveils Preview of Live English-To-Spanish Translator More

Skype Unveils Preview of Live English-To-Spanish Translator

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  • Was cool in 2010 when foss BigBlueButton did this (Score:4, Interesting)

    by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2014 @10:45AM (#48608643) Journal

    I, and my customer, thought it was cool as heck when the open source video conferencing system Big Blue Button added auto-translate back in 2010. It's good to see Microsoft catching on too.

    • Re:Was cool in 2010 when foss BigBlueButton did th (Score:5, Informative)

      by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2014 @10:57AM (#48608733)

      I, and my customer, thought it was cool as heck when the open source video conferencing system Big Blue Button added auto-translate back in 2010. It's good to see Microsoft catching on too.

      Except that this is not translation of chat messages, but live translation of spoken word coupled with voice synthesis in the translated language.

      You can't tell from the video how "real-time" it is, but it seems fast enough for a basic conversation. Also there is nothing I saw that indicates how much training the speech recognition needs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by doug141 ( 863552 )

        nothing I saw that indicates how much training the speech recognition needs.

        Translators as a whole will never have enough training, since it's an art not perfected even by humans. When an idiom's literal translation is nonsense, the translator's job is about imperfect trade-offs.

      • Well watching the video I got, the cold childs that the marketers have overly exaggerated its abilities.
        The source of amazement on the kids faces wanted to make me gag, I think they recorded them watching a magician doing his tricks, then replaced it with the clips of the kid talking on Skype.

        So we have technologies Like Siri, Skyvi, or Cortana a cloud based system to interpret your speech and convert it to text, and get some context out of the sentences. So after that point you are now translating a cha

        • Do you have children? At that age they are still easy to fascinate. Put them in contact with a stranger that doesn't speak their language, involved them in a mystery game and you'll see how easily fascinated they are. Not everybody lifts their chin at innovation (even if you think it's already been done).

    • I don't mean to defend Microsoft but what product offers this at no cost and provides live translation?

      Maybe I'm just ill informed but I haven't seen any mainstream products offer this.

      • Here's a bunch of Android apps that do. Some are text and voice, some are text-only.

        https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]

        My original subject line and message mentioned Big Blue Button, an open source web-based video chat application. It did translation for free, using Google's API. Google now charges $10 per half-million words (or is it half-million characters? ). Technically not free, but awfully close - half a million words is a LOT of chat messages.

        • Ok, but that's chat translation. They go a step further AND it's part of a world renowned communication software.

          On a side note, I remember reading an article showing MS as a huge innovator in speech recognition and translation. They hired some experts on the topic to try and provide the best service on the market. This same article was covering this upcoming feature on the news which claims their voice recognition is better and their translation algorithm as well.

          I can tell you from experience that Google

  • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Skype clients exist in linux, mac, and android, but Redmond is needlessly mandating the latest, and least popular version of Windows.

      And then Microsoft fanboys keep wondering why Mac, iOS, Linux and Android users hate Microsoft.

      Hell, Microsoft isn't even supporting the latest technologies for their own Windows 7 users anymore.

      • Skype clients exist in linux, mac, and android, but Redmond is needlessly mandating the latest, and least popular version of Windows.

        And then Microsoft fanboys keep wondering why Mac, iOS, Linux and Android users hate Microsoft.

        Hell, Microsoft isn't even supporting the latest technologies for their own Windows 7 users anymore.

        Besides, wouldn't it be easire to just learn Spanish - or English as the case may be - than have to put up with W8?

        Path of least resistance folks. No habla "Windows" ocho. Muy Guano de toro.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by OzPeter ( 195038 )

          Besides, wouldn't it be easire to just learn Spanish - or English as the case may be - than have to put up with W8?

          How many years did it take you to learn to speak english? Because that is at least what you will require to learn another language to the same fluency. And that's not accounting for not being embedded in the language or that children are wired to learn language more easily than an adult can.

          So it's about $120 for and 8.1 license from Amazon vs a significant amount of time to learn that second language. Your choice.

          • Besides, wouldn't it be easire to just learn Spanish - or English as the case may be - than have to put up with W8?

            How many years did it take you to learn to speak english?

            Me flunk english? Tha'ts unpossible!

            Because that is at least what you will require to learn another language to the same fluency.

            I doubt it, because when I started learning English, my brain was still making a lot of new connections, being a baby and all. But regardless, my present level of fluency in English is not required to get along in other languages.

            And that's not accounting for not being embedded in the language or that children are wired to learn language more easily than an adult can.

            So it's about $120 for and 8.1 license from Amazon vs a significant amount of time to learn that second language. Your choice.

            I made my choice already. I won't use W8 or 8.1. I know enough Spanish and French to get by. If I need to learn another language, I will. No need for Skype to do the translations for me. Years of reading Japanese and Chinese equipment manuals te

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by OzPeter ( 195038 )

              I know enough Spanish and French to get by. If I need to learn another language, I will. No need for Skype to do the translations for me.

              You are comparing Apples to Oranges, by saying you are fluent in english, but just get by in other languages. This Skype system has the potential to enable you to communicate fluently in other languages.

              And yes I know what it is like to get by in other languages vs fluency having previously gotten by in Russian, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish and suffered various misadventures because of it.

              • I know enough Spanish and French to get by. If I need to learn another language, I will. No need for Skype to do the translations for me.

                You are comparing Apples to Oranges, by saying you are fluent in english, but just get by in other languages. This Skype system has the potential to enable you to communicate fluently in other languages.

                I'm not going to hold my breath, because this would be the sort of groundbreaking invention that would merit a Nobel prize. The very equivalent of the Star Trek Universal translator. The likleyhood of it being achieved by Skype is a little far fetched. But we'll see how it pans out. Imagine a world where everyone can sound like Stephen King speaking Spanish.....

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by OzPeter ( 195038 )

          No habla "Windows" ocho. Muy Guano de toro

          And BTW that should be

          No hablo "Windows" ocho. Mucho mierde de toro

          • No habla "Windows" ocho. Muy Guano de toro

            And BTW that should be

            No hablo "Windows" ocho. Mucho mierde de toro

            And yet, you knew exactly what I wrote So that you could correct what I wrote. I'm no genius in either French or Spanish, yet I can make myself understood, Just like you did.

            Oh, and thanks for the correction.

    • Redmond is needlessly mandating the latest, and least popular version of Windows.

      That seems like a silly thing for a city to be doing. It may be because Microsoft is headquartered there, and they are trying to promote a local company. Anyway, their municipal policies shouldn't affect anyone who doesn't live there.

  • Given how shitty is the automatic closed captioning wherever you see it (TV, Youtube, etc) in English where most of the work and original research is done. Now imagine you then have to translate that into another langue where the translation performance is weak or so, so. Now, this is ony half of the equation, you then need to convert an foreign spoken language to text, then translate it back in English. I have reserves about the performance of such a system given the performance of all the individual compo

    • Re:Doubts about performance (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ArcadeMan ( 2766669 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2014 @11:18AM (#48608863)

      Compte tenu de merde comment est le sous-titrage automatique fermé où vous voyez (TV, Youtube, etc.) en anglais où se fait la plupart des travaux et des recherches originales. Maintenant imaginez vous alors dois traduire cela en une autre langue où l'exercice de traduction est faible ou oui, donc. Maintenant, il s'agit d'ony moitié de l'équation, vous devez ensuite convertir une langue étrangère parlée en texte, puis le traduire en anglais. J'ai des réserves sur les performances d'un tel système, étant donné les performances de toutes les composantes individuelles nécessaires pour que cela devienne une réalité.

      That's from Bing Translate. The first few sentences are really hard to comprehend but the last one is, for lack of a better word, perfect.

      Multipass.

      • Yes, but you started with text and removed a layer of complexity. Also, as mentioned, the reverse operation is not as efficient as the forward operation. There is much more work done on spoken English recognition than any other language. I doubt the performance to convert spoken French to text will be as performant as spoken English to text.

        In writing, you make an extra effort to make it clear. In spoken language, you have hesitation, slang, intonations, accent, prononciation, elusion, etc, that makes it ha

        • Slang makes it hard for real people to communicate with each other. Ex: UK vs USA vs Canada vs Australia, France vs Québec, etc. I can't imagine a machine doing better, at least for a few decades.

  • It sort of implies its instant messaging, which wouldn't be too impressive.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Zalbik ( 308903 )

      And presumably you cannot even read the TFS:

      "one classroom of children speaking Spanish and the other speaking English, "

  • It would be great to use Skype again, but alas it ceased working on my 12.04 box.
    I was a paying customer (i.e. Skype out) until Microsoft decided that it would no longer support me.

    • 14.04 is an LTS release.

      Any reason you can't/won't upgrade?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        He's arrogant and likes to make sure everyone else hears his whinging whenever his old, unsupported OS can't do exactly what he wants it to do.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fnj ( 64210 )

        Any reason why he SHOULD have to upgrade? 12.04 was LTS too, and is allegedly supported until 2017.

        • My apologies, I've been bitten by a troll. Not you but the GP that suggested Skype didn't support 12.04 LTS.

          The download page explicitly says Ubuntu 12.04 multiarch as one of the download options.

  • With Skype NSA pre-encryption access coded in (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sasparillascott ( 1267058 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2014 @11:15AM (#48608839)
    Always good to keep in mind with Skype, courtesy of Edward Snowden, Microsoft, as a partner to the NSA, rewrote it and coded in pre-encryption access for the NSA for all Skype communications (video, audio and text). Microsoft has never said it has taken them out. So always assume that whatever you do on Skype is getting recorded and kept, for future use, by the NSA or one of the other five eyes agencies.

    http://www.theguardian.com/wor... [theguardian.com]

    As others have pointed out, last week the U.S. passed a law (and the President signed it), which got no press, authorizing all U.S. citizen communications can be recorded without a warrant and that information can be passed from the NSA (which was created only to spy on external threats...not anymore), kept for as long as the NSA would want and passed directly to law enforcement agencies when they want it. Its not that President Obama won't do anything with your skype communications, its what the future Nixon, McCarthy or (FBI) Hoover, or worse, will do with them.

    https://www.techdirt.com/artic... [techdirt.com]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Gotta love those "this story got no press... as proof, here is a link to the story, in the press"....

    • That's awful, but ideally if it's unconstitutional then the law has no bearing (not that any of this matters in practicality).

  • All these new skype features, yet they still lack basic spell checking.

    Someone needs to drag their project manager out back and beat him with his Macbook.

  • Newfanese (Score:3, Funny)

    by slackoon ( 997078 ) on Tuesday December 16, 2014 @12:00PM (#48609179)
    If you're from Canada you'll understand when I say

    Let's see it handle Newfaneese!!!!
    examples here [cottagelife.com]
    “Who knit ya?”
    Translation: Who’s your mother/parents?
    This one doesn’t need too much explanation, but try telling your mother that all she was doing for nine months was “knitting.”
    “I’m gutfounded. Fire up a scoff.”
    translation "I'm hungry, make some food" Translation: I’m hungry. Make me some food.

    • “I’m gutfounded. Fire up a scoff.” translation "I'm hungry, make some food" Translation: I’m hungry. Make me some food.

      What could go wrong? Google translates it thusly (spanish/english round-trip translation): "I'm gutfounded . Start a mockery " .

  • This is just current enterprise tech finally making its way into the consumer world.
    I've done a lot of work developing technology for language schools, requiring the recognition & reproduction of speech. This is nothing new, it's just speech recognition algorithms being parsed through a translator & then spat back out by a text-to-speech engine. Heck, I even have something like this running on my home Media Centre.

    The groundwork has been done by universities & is being improved by both public (t

  • It doesn't matter how many new features they add if their account recovery is so broken that the owners can't get control of their own account. Most people don't want to make a replacement account as a solution.

    I mean, you really expect someone to remember what year you made a skype account? And (not or) the first five contacts on your contact list?

  • Oh ... we never talk about that, only the shiny bells & whistles, right? No privacy, no purchase, sorry.

  • FTA:

    The preview program... will be available to Skype customers who... are using Windows 8.1 on the desktop or device.

    That's a showstopper for me right there.

  • Spain is the European country which has a lower proficiency rate in foreign languages, specially English.

    Now they have a perfect excuse for being even lazier...

    Worse, given the general low literacy of the Spaniards they may even become convinced that the rest of the world actually speaks Spanish... not that they aren't doing it yet.

    BTW: Please, MS, Google, etc... improve your Dutch / English translators, they utterly sucks in both ways, and these are closely related languages.

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