• Nigerian/African Tech
  • Start Up
  • Internet
    • App
    • Mobile
    • Software
  • Gadgets
  • Money
  • Video
Tech News, Magazine & Review WordPress Theme 2017
  • Home
  • Africa
  • Business
  • Video
  • Metaverse
  • AI
  • Gadgets
  • Earnings
  • Tips
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
  • Home
  • Africa
  • Business
  • Video
  • Metaverse
  • AI
  • Gadgets
  • Earnings
  • Tips
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
TechBooky
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Home General

Google to launch own real-time translate to rival Skype

Lolu Peace by Lolu Peace
January 12, 2015
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The tech industry is doing its best to topple the Tower of Babel.
Last month, Skype, Microsoft’s video calling service, initiated simultaneous translation between English and Spanish speakers. Not to be outdone, Google will soon announce updates to its translation app for phones. Google Translate now offers written translation of 90 languages and the ability to hear spoken translations of a few popular languages. In the update, the app will automatically recognize if someone is speaking a popular language and automatically turn it into written text.

Certainly, the technology of turning one tongue to another can still be downright terrible – or “downright herbal,” as I purportedly said on a test of Skype. The service also required a headset and worked best if a speaker paused to hear what the other person had said. The experience was a little as if two telemarketers were using walkie-talkies.
But those complaints are churlish compared with what also seemed like a fundamental miracle: Within minutes, I was used to the process and talking freely with a Colombian man about his wife, children and life in Medellín (or “Made A,” as Skype first heard it, but it later got it correctly). The single biggest thing that separates us — our language — had started to disappear.

Also On TechBooky

7 Hyped Innovations That Fell Short of Mainstream Adoption

Discover The Ultimate Gaming Experience With HYPERPC

Game-Changer: The Latest Breakthroughs in Gaming Controller Tech

Microsoft’s Game-Changing Acquisition of Activision Blizzard Gets Green Light from UK CMA

Sony Announces A Slimmer PS5 Model With Detachable Disc Drive

Those language mistakes are a critical part of how online products get better. The services improve with use, as so-called machine learning by computers examines outcomes and adjusts performance. It is how the online spell check feature became dependable, and how search, map directions and many other online services progress.
“The program learns as you using the conversations,” is how Sebastian Cuberos, my new friend from Colombia, put it during our Skype call. “At this time, is pretty good.” The grammar isn’t perfect, but you know what he means.

Just a few thousand people are using the service on Skype. As it learns from them, it will bring in more of the nearly 40,000 people waiting to try the Spanish-English service. Even in these early days, it elicits the possibility of social studies classes with children in the United States and Mexico, or journalism where you can live chat with a family in Syria.
Google says its Translate app has been installed more than 100 million times on Android phones, most of which could receive the upgrade. “We have 500 million active users of Translate every month, across all our platforms,” said Macduff Hughes, the engineering director of Google Translate. With 80 to 90 percent of the web in just 10 languages, he added, translation becomes a critical part of learning for many people.
Automatic translation of web pages into some major languages isalready a feature on Google’s Chrome browser. People using the browser can render a page that is in English into, say Korean. There are also 140 languages in which it is possible to change things like Gmail settings.

It is possible to set your email to languages like Klingon, Pirate and Elmer Fudd. Other options, like Cherokee, are more serious, and Google aspires to eventually have these as full translation languages. Google will also soon announce a service that enables you to hold your phone up to a foreign street sign and create an automatic translation on the screen.
Microsoft’s Bing Translation engine is used on Twitter and Facebook. Facebook, which also features communication across the borders of language by operating the world’s largest photo sharing service, also has its own translation efforts. It has also signed up thousands of people to a waiting list for Skype to offer other simultaneously translated languages, like Chinese and Russian.
Feeding the “corpus,” as linguistics engineers call their database of language, has become critical for some countries as well as for the sake of machine learning. Google, which uses human translation to initiate its service, recently added Kazakh after a government official went on television to ask people to help out. “People can ask very, very strongly that we put their language on the service,” Mr. Hughes said.
Still, some experts worry as machines look more deeply at individual uses of meaning through things like intonation and humor. What will it mean if, as with our search terms and our Facebook “likes,” these become fodder for advertisers and law enforcement?
“The technology is potentially magical, but the threats are real too,” said Kelly Fitzsimmons, co-founder of the Hypervoice Consortium, which researches the future of communication. “What would it mean to have a corpus of conversations after there is regime change, and a new government doesn’t like what you said?”

Currently, Ms. Fitzsimmons said, just 1 percent of consumers consent to having their data recorded overtly. That is what people do when they help machine learning of translation, however, or when they use voice-based assistants like Siri. She thinks individuals will become better at managing their own privacy, and not outsourcing it to the providers of services. But for now, all kinds of information is surrendered for convenience.
Olivier Fontana, director of product marketing in the Skype project, says conversations are broken up into separate files before people check a translation for quality. “There is no way to know who said what,” he said. “The N.S.A. couldn’t make sense of this.”
Mr. Hughes said Google was also careful about what it did with voice, in part because of potential issues around biometric security in case voice recognition replaced passwords. Besides, he said, “there is something to be said for having your translator be different – if I speak Chinese, I’d have a woman’s voice, so people know it’s a translation.”

source : The New York Times

Related Posts:

  • wjoel_1777_180403_youtube_003.0
    YouTube Mobile App Rolls Out New Translate Feature…
  • tiktok-20190415
    TikTok Users Can Now Turn On Closed Captions If…
  • NLLB-1
    Meta’s AI Machine Translation Research Helps Break…
  • Zoom-background
    Zoom Buys Kites, A Real-time Machine Translation Service
  • Google-Translate-Logo-1
    Google Plans To Redesign The Interface Of Its…
  • google-apps-docs-logo-
    Here Are The New Features Coming To Meet, Docs And More
  • android1
    Plans Underway To Develop Android Apps From Texts…
  • STK093_Google_04
    Google Attempts To Translate Doctors' Terrible Handwriting
Tags: googleskypetranslate
Lolu Peace

Lolu Peace

BROWSE BY CATEGORIES

Freshly Squeezed

  • Altman’s Return Is A Teachable Moment in AI Governance November 27, 2023
  • 7 Hyped Innovations That Fell Short of Mainstream Adoption November 27, 2023
  • Sam Altman Is Back To OpenAI As CEO Less Than A Week After His Firing November 22, 2023
  • Breaking: Sam Altman Is Leaving OpenAI In Just A Week After Its DevDay November 17, 2023
  • No Mr Musk, You Can’t Do It All And Don’t Blame It On Wokeness November 10, 2023
  • The Airbnb Effect? A Closer Look at Housing Crises in the UK and Canada November 10, 2023

RSS More from TechBooky Africa

  • Sony’s $10 Million Fund is Transforming Africa’s Creativity & the Theatric Industry at Large.  October 18, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The Impact of Yellow Card’s Grant on Nigerian Women and the Blockchain Industry. October 17, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The Nigerian Start-ups That Evolved With The AI Technology Emergence October 14, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The Impact of Starlink’s Price Drop in Nigeria. October 11, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • CoverAI’s Acquisition by Writesea, a New York-Based Firm. October 11, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The Rise and Fall of Ghanaian FinTech Dash October 9, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • Starlink Set Up Shop in Zambia. October 7, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The FTX-Backed Bridge Network In-House Commotion By Cofounders Tussle For Power.  October 6, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • Seven Unique Takes on Ranking the Android Foldable Phones of 2023. October 2, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • PayDay Potential Sale Stirs Reactions Based On The Recently Acquired $3M Investment Equity.  September 22, 2023 Eni Emeka

Receive top tech news directly in your inbox

Loading

RSS More from TechBooky Business

  • Palantir Beats Earnings Expectations and Raises Guidance November 5, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Block’s Remarkable Q3 Earnings Report Sparks Investor Frenzy November 3, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Apple Q4 Earnings Report: Surprises and Shifts November 3, 2023 Femi Balo
  • AMD Reports Q3 Earnings Exceeding Expectations and Highlights a Positive 2024 Outlook November 1, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Samsung Reports Strong Q3 Earnings Amid Signs of Chip Market Stabilization October 31, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Pinterest’s Impressive Third-Quarter Earnings Report and Outlook October 31, 2023 Femi Balo
  • ON Semiconductor Faces Market Challenges Despite Strong Q3 Earnings October 31, 2023 techbookybusiness
  • Huawei Records Stable Q3 Revenue Despite Challenges October 27, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Intel’s Strong Q3 Earnings Propel Stock Up in After-Hours Trading October 27, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Amazon Surpasses Expectations In Q3 Earnings Report October 27, 2023 Femi Balo

Browse Archives

December 2023
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Nov    

About Us

TechBooky

TechBooky is a social Tech blog with a special focus on the budding African Technology sector. TechBooky is currently based in Abuja, Nigeria.

Subscribe to TechBooky

Enter your email address to subscribe to TechBooky and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 17,656 other subscribers.

Receive top tech news directly in your inbox

Loading

Popular Tags

AI (317) amazon (97) android (305) app (664) Apple (504) artificial intelligence (341) business (419) china (117) cloud (141) cryptocurrency (164) ecommerce (112) enterprise (259) facebook (482) gadget (508) gaming (183) google (580) government (403) guest post (109) instagram (147) internet (389) ios (262) iphone (221) microsoft (285) mobile (321) new feature (329) nigeria (283) privacy (146) research (135) samsung (154) security (387) smartphone (257) social media (721) software (460) startup (272) streaming (149) telecom (159) tips (352) transport (109) twitter (256) united states (205) users (158) videos (116) website (166) whatsapp (136) youtube (110)

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Africa
  • Business
  • Video
  • Metaverse
  • AI
  • Gadgets
  • Earnings
  • Tips

RSS African Tech News

  • Sony’s $10 Million Fund is Transforming Africa’s Creativity & the Theatric Industry at Large.  October 18, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The Impact of Yellow Card’s Grant on Nigerian Women and the Blockchain Industry. October 17, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The Nigerian Start-ups That Evolved With The AI Technology Emergence October 14, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The Impact of Starlink’s Price Drop in Nigeria. October 11, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • CoverAI’s Acquisition by Writesea, a New York-Based Firm. October 11, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The Rise and Fall of Ghanaian FinTech Dash October 9, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • Starlink Set Up Shop in Zambia. October 7, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • The FTX-Backed Bridge Network In-House Commotion By Cofounders Tussle For Power.  October 6, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • Seven Unique Takes on Ranking the Android Foldable Phones of 2023. October 2, 2023 Eni Emeka
  • PayDay Potential Sale Stirs Reactions Based On The Recently Acquired $3M Investment Equity.  September 22, 2023 Eni Emeka

RSS Business Tech News

  • Palantir Beats Earnings Expectations and Raises Guidance November 5, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Block’s Remarkable Q3 Earnings Report Sparks Investor Frenzy November 3, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Apple Q4 Earnings Report: Surprises and Shifts November 3, 2023 Femi Balo
  • AMD Reports Q3 Earnings Exceeding Expectations and Highlights a Positive 2024 Outlook November 1, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Samsung Reports Strong Q3 Earnings Amid Signs of Chip Market Stabilization October 31, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Pinterest’s Impressive Third-Quarter Earnings Report and Outlook October 31, 2023 Femi Balo
  • ON Semiconductor Faces Market Challenges Despite Strong Q3 Earnings October 31, 2023 techbookybusiness
  • Huawei Records Stable Q3 Revenue Despite Challenges October 27, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Intel’s Strong Q3 Earnings Propel Stock Up in After-Hours Trading October 27, 2023 Femi Balo
  • Amazon Surpasses Expectations In Q3 Earnings Report October 27, 2023 Femi Balo

Recent News

Altman’s Return Is A Teachable Moment in AI Governance

Altman’s Return Is A Teachable Moment in AI Governance

November 27, 2023
7 Hyped Innovations That Fell Short of Mainstream Adoption

7 Hyped Innovations That Fell Short of Mainstream Adoption

November 27, 2023
Sam Altman Is Back To OpenAI As CEO Less Than A Week After His Firing

Sam Altman Is Back To OpenAI As CEO Less Than A Week After His Firing

November 22, 2023
Breaking: Sam Altman Is Leaving OpenAI In Just A Week After Its DevDay

Breaking: Sam Altman Is Leaving OpenAI In Just A Week After Its DevDay

November 17, 2023
No Mr Musk, You Can’t Do It All And Don’t Blame It On Wokeness

No Mr Musk, You Can’t Do It All And Don’t Blame It On Wokeness

November 10, 2023
The Airbnb Effect? A Closer Look at Housing Crises in the UK and Canada

The Airbnb Effect? A Closer Look at Housing Crises in the UK and Canada

November 10, 2023
  • About TechBooky
  • Submit Article
  • Advertise Here
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Login

© 2021 Design By Tech Booky Elite

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
  • Home
  • Africa
  • Business
  • Video
  • Metaverse
  • AI
  • Gadgets
  • Earnings
  • Tips

© 2021 Design By Tech Booky Elite