Microsoft's Skype translator now supports Japanese

Microsoft is expanding its list of supported languages for Skype’s real-time translation feature today – adding Japanese to the list of supported languages.

Now Skype users speaking one of the other supported languages can converse over Skype either via voice or video to friends or family members in Japan and have the language translated real-time for both parties. The addition of Japanese brings the full list of supported languages to 10, including English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Italian.

Skype’s real-time translation feature works on the Windows desktop app, as well as the new Skype for Windows 10 app which quietly exited preview a few weeks ago.

On the Skype Blog, Microsoft shared an example of the impact Skype’s real-time translator feature was having on bridging relationships.

One of our Skype users shared his experiences living and working in Japan in 2015. After graduating from college, Abe Romero worked for a year in Kanazawa, Japan, teaching English to local high school students.

“Being a small city, Kanazawa did not have many English speakers so certain tasks, from ordering food to communicating with work colleges could get really complicated due to the language barrier. I loved the experience and made a lot of local friends, but it would have been amazing to have a reliable translation tool to communicate clearly off the bat.”

“I’m really excited Skype Translator is expanding to include Japanese. It will be an easy and efficient way to keep up with all the friends I made in Kanazawa over the past year.”

If you’re interested in the more technical details regarding how Microsoft accomplished this, you can check out the firm’s translator blog post here.

Skype for Windows 10 is available from the store link below:

[appbox windowsstore 9wzdncrfj364]