Microsoft Technology Instantly Translates User's English Voice Into Spoken, Translated Chinese

Microsoft Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid recently demonstrated a speech recognition technology that converts the speaker's voice into another language. In this example, Rashid's English words were translated into computer-generated Chinese language.

In a blog post, Rashid says, "Though it was a limited test, the effect was dramatic, and the audience came alive in response. When I spoke in English, the system automatically combined all the underlying technologies to deliver a robust speech to speech experience—my voice speaking Chinese. You can see the demo in the video above. The results are still not perfect, and there is still much work to be done, but the technology is very promising, and we hope that in a few years we will have systems that can completely break down language barriers."

Rashid also says, "In other words, we may not have to wait until the 22nd century for a usable equivalent of Star Trek's universal translator."

You can jump forward to the voice translation portion of the presentation at the 7:10 mark. Take a look: