According to The New York Times, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has finally figured out how to convert speech of one language into text of another language, that too in real-time. This comes as great news for those wishing to communicate with people belonging to different cultures, speaking different languages, as it eliminates the barrier that people have had since the dawn of time: the language barrier.
Previously, there were only two ways people with different languages could communicate with each other: first, by learning the language itself; second, by using language translators such as Google Translate, or hiring real-person translators for that matter. None of these options provided a solution that eliminated the language barrier altogether, enabling people of different languages to communicate with each other seamlessly without a hitch.
Now, Google Inc., after years of research and development, has finally embarked on the route to creating an app that will translate the speech of one person speaking a language into text of another language understood by the person at the receiving end of the message. Explaining the concept is difficult, but Google finally seems to be on track to making it extremely easy for all parties affected by the language barrier to communicate with each other without any delays previously innate in their conversations.
According to the New York Times, the new update by Google which will enable users with this service can be expected “soon”.
Apart from this, certain new features are being added by Google Inc. to the Google Translate; one such feature the translation of street signs. According to reports, Google plans to update Google Translate with the ability to take a picture taken by a smartphone of a street sign written in a foreign language, and translate whatever is written on the street sign into user understandable language. The picture does not need to be formally taken and loaded into the app in order to be translated. Users simply need to point their smartphones at the signboard written in foreign language and it would be translated by Google Translate without an issue.
Google Translate is one of the most famous features Google Inc. currently provides to billions of its users all over the world. The service currently translates over 90 languages into English, or one language into any other language of the user’s choice (given its available as an option). Currently, Google Translate is being used by over half a billion people all over the world. It provides translation service both in text as well as in voice (for select languages).
Only last month, Microsoft updated Skype with a similar instant translation feature that enabled users speaking English and Spanish to communicate with each other seamlessly by translating speech to text in real time. According to experts, Microsoft’s update of Skype may have inspired Google to update Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Translate to carry such a feature as well. However, sources close to Google have intimated that such an update to the Google Translate service had been in the pipeline for quite a while now.
