Google Translate app adds conversation mode to translate SPEECH in real time
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Just days after rumours of a speech translation tool surfaced, Google has officially launched the feature as part of its Translate app.
Both iOS and Android users can now talk to the app and get a written translation of what they're saying, in real time, on the screen.
The move builds on Google's current tools, which offer written translation of 90 languages, as well spoken translations in a select number of languages on Android devices.
'Often the hardest part of travelling is navigating the local language,' said Barak Turovsky, product lead for Google Translate.
'Now Google Translate can be your guide in new ways. Asking for directions to the Rive Gauche, ordering bacalhau in Lisbon, or chatting with your grandmother in her native Spanish just got a lot faster.'
The update will begin rolling out to both iOS and Android users from today.
When using the app, tap the mic to enter the voice translation mode.
Tap the mic again, and the Google Translate app will automatically recognise which language is being spoken by both members of the conversation.
Once the two languages have been recognised, the app will be poised to translate speech, meaning the user doesn't need to press the mic button again.
Google has also updated its Translate app's Word Lens tool.
Word Lens lets people use camera mode to take a photo of text and get a translation in 36 languages.
Now, while using the Translate app, users can point their camera at a sign or text and see the translated text overlaid the screen - even if they don't have a data connection.
This instant translation currently works for translation from English to and from French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, and Google said it is working to expand to more languages.
'More than 500 million people use Google Translate every month, making more than 1 billion translations a day to more easily communicate and access information across languages,' continued Mr Turovsky.
'Today's updates take us one step closer to turning your phone into a universal translator and to a world where language is no longer a barrier to discovering information or connecting with each other.'
An insider leaked details of these changes to the New York Times earlier this week.
The move builds on Google's current tools, which offer written translation of 90 languages, as well spoken translations in a select number of languages on Android devices (pictured)
Rumours of the Google update come a month after Microsoft released a preview of Skype Translator (pictured). It lets people of different languages talk to each other on video calls. The software translates Spanish or English into text and speech, using a Windows 8.1 device
Last month, Microsoft's Skype released a beta version of its own live translation tool, which translates speech instantly into both text and spoken translations.
While it currently only interprets between English and Spanish, it will eventually offer 40 languages, which will mean people from different countries will be able to converse with ease.
'Skype is now removing another barrier to make it possible for people to communicate irrespective of what language they speak,' Microsoft's Gurdeep Pall wrote in a blog post at the time.
'Skype Translator relies on machine learning, which means that the more the technology is used, the smarter it gets.'
Microsoft first unveiled the technology (pictured) two years ago. At the time, though, it was deemed too inaccurate to release to the general public. But a breakthrough by the Skype and Microsoft Translator teams in neural network-based speech recognition reduced errors in speech recognition by more than 30 per cent
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