Skype adds Mandarin, Italian to Skype Translator Preview

Skype has now added Mandarin and Italian to its Translator Preview, but for the time being, it is still an invite-only beta version.

Skype's Internet calling service marketing director, Yasmin Khan, said in a blog post on Wednesday that Italian was now a part of the languages the translator could speak.

It was added to the Skype Translator preview program after users showed interest, although Italian was not much of a problem for addition.

Mandarin, however, could prove a challenge for translation.

Since Mandarin was one of the most challenging languages for the English speaker to master, it was also more difficult to program into the Skype Translator Preview program.

Scientists and researchers from Skype worked alongside those in the US to assist in creating the language, recognition, and translation models used for Mandarin.

Skype was now facing competition with Facebook's WhatsApp, which allowed voice calling, in addition to several other features.

WhatsApp is the largest instant messaging service worldwide, with over 700 million users, which forced Skype to create the Skype Translator and Skype for Business. Now, with the addition of Mandarin and Italian, Skype Translator could handle four different languages, including Spanish and English.

Starting Wednesday, Skype Translator Preview, which was still an invite-only beta version and only worked on Windows 8.1 and above, was capable of real-time voice translations of Mandarin and Italian.

As with the preview's previous language skills, Skype Translator can translate spoken words from English to Mandarin in real time, creating a near fluent conversation between two people who might otherwise not be able to communicate.