Microsoft announced today that it is bringing its Translator feature to the UWP Skype Preview app. As of right now, the update is available to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring. This could be considered the December update, as the last one for Insiders was on November 12.
If you"re not familiar with the feature, it allows for your conversations to be translated in real time, with one participant in the call speaking one language and another person speaking another. Currently, Skype Translator supports the following languages for calls:
- Arabic
- Chinese
- English
- French
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Portuguese Brazilian
- Russian
- Spanish
Microsoft said that using a headset will improve the quality of the translations, and the more you use it, the better it will get.
If your language isn"t on that list, instant messaging might work for you. Translator works with 60 languages for text, and you can find the full list here.
But that"s not all that"s new in today"s update. It also adds the following features:
Introduce friends and family on Skype by sharing their Skype contact details
Capture and share video messages with friends and family on Skype—even if they’re not online
Manage your conversations and save time by marking conversations as read or unread
Don’t miss another call by forwarding them to a mobile or landline*
Clearly, Microsoft is continuing to work on making its Skype Preview app more robust, and closer to a parity with the existing desktop app. It still has a ways to go, but Translator - along with all of the other new features - is a notable improvement.