Last December, after debuting the service in May, Microsoft released a preview of Skype Translator, a standalone app available on Windows 8.1 that translates spoken word conversations, initially in Spanish and English, via Skype. Since then, the translator app has added languages (it’s up to 6 now, English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, and Italian, along with 50 messaging languages), and now today, Microsoft is announcing that Skype Translator will no longer require a separate app, and will be rolling out built in support for Translator from within Skype for Windows Desktop.
This means that instead of requiring Windows 8.1, Skype Translator sessions can be initiated from any computer running Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10. And just like the standalone app, only the caller needs to have Skype Translator functionality. If, for example, you initiate a Skype session and enable Translator (with the push of a button), you’ll be able to call anyone using a Skype app, on Android, iPhone, or Mac (of course the quality of service depends on the call quality, more on that in a minute)...