Microsoft announces release of "universal translator"

The Guardian reports that Microsoft is to release a near real time voice translator as Skype Translator by the end of this year. The service will first appear on Windows 8 but is expected to be rolled out to other platforms quickly. In a demo at the Code conference Skype Translator translated English to German and vice versa nearly perfectly. The video below explains how this works.

#Microsoft can convert your voice into another language

The Babel Fish from The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy

Microsoft Research have revealed software that can take your spoken voice and translate it into a voice in a different language. In a online demonstration Rick Rashid, Microsoft’s Chief Research Officer, says a long sentence in English, and  it;s translated into Spanish, Italian, and Mandarin complete with Rashid's original intonation.
   This obviously raises the potential that one day soon you'll be able to talk to someone on your smartphone in English and they will hear your voice in Mandarin, and vice versa. You can watch the demo here (jump ahead to 12 mins if you just want to see the speech translations demo).