Microsoft is developing a universal voice translator

In our world there are few people who can learn more than 3-4 languages. Yes, there are polyglot universals who know 10-15 and more languages, but there are few of them. The problem of reading texts in a foreign unfamiliar language has been more or less solved: all sorts of services and programs that translate texts from one language to a bunch of others abound. But there are no voice interpreters yet. Microsoft is going to develop a universal voice translator capable of translating a foreign language “on the fly” and pronouncing the translation already in its native language of the program / device.

The prototype of the program is already ready, it was created by one of the employees of the Redmond division (or rather, the headquarters) of Microsoft. At the demonstration, the program spoke tolerably in Spanish and in Chinese. But of course, it’s still far from perfect and error-free work. Nevertheless, developers continue to move in the direction of creating a truly universal translator. According to the plan, the program will not only translate on the fly, but also pronounce the translation by voice of the owner.
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Such devices were shown in a variety of different kinds of science fiction films, where the owners of the devices spoke both in different languages ​​of the Earth and in languages ​​of newcomers. Apparently, we do not need the last option yet, so the developers have focused on high-quality voice translations of terrestrial languages. And yes, according to the developers, they will be able to create software that translates from language to language better than it does services and software for translating texts.

Now the program must first develop a specific language model that meets the characteristics of the languages ​​being translated and the voice of the owner. Then, after analyzing the spoken phrase, the program quite accurately pronounces the translated phrases in a new language. Examples of what the program says and how can be found at the link given as the source.

technologyreview