Google Joins Microsoft In The Race To Create Real-Time Translation Program
In December, 2014, Microsoft announced its real-time Skype translation program. The launch event featured Microsoft involving school kids from Mexico City and Tacoma, Washington in a Spanish-English test program. Meaning users can now speak Spanish to Skype, and the program will translate their spoken words into English to their counterparts on the other end.
That has prompted Google to scale up its Translation app. Google, which has always been very active in the translation space, wants to ensure Microsoft doesn’t take away the limelight it enjoys in the translation space. The giant search engine is said to be working on an update for its Translation app that will enable the app to auto-recognize popular languages and translate them into written text in real time.
Google is also taking the competition a notch higher by adding several other features; such as giving users the ability to take pictures of menus and signs and translating into a different language. Currently, the Translation app can only give written translation in 90 languages and can hear spoken translation of some few popular languages.
With the new update, the app will now be able to recognize a popular language and automatically translate it into written text. The move by Google to updates its Translation app is believed to be linked to Google’s acquisition of Wordlens app.
Android Police has also reported the existence of a Google Now code that likely suggests that the new updated Google Translation app will also feature ‘spoken notifications’ for when the user is driving. It has also emerged that Google will likely allow other third-party apps to feature on Google Now. Meaning popular apps like Facebook and Twitter alerts will also feature directly on Google Now stream.