Soon, language may no longer be a barrier to international online communication, thanks to a new app that allows real-time translation of people speaking in different languages.由于新的应用软件可以让讲不同语言的人在网络上实时交流，也许很快语言就不再成为国际在线交流的障碍。

U.S. software giant Microsoft demonstrated its new Skype Translator app at an industry conference in California this week. It almost flawlessly translated a conversation between an English-speaker and a person who spoke in German.美国电脑巨头微软公司本周在加州的一个工业会议上演示了新开发的Skype翻译工具。它几乎完美无瑕地翻译了一名讲英语的人与一名讲德语的人之间的谈话。

The new software is the result of more than a decade-long development of speech recognition and automatic translation by Microsoft engineers. The company says it opens enormous possibilities for better communication in education, diplomacy and interpersonal relationships, such as extended families whose members speak different languages.新的软件是微软工程师们十年开发语言识别和自动翻译技术的成果。微软说，这一翻译工具为教育、外交和人际关系领域的更好交流开启了巨大的可能性，比如，大家庭中操不同语言的成员之间的交流。

Microsoft says Skype Translator will be available in a beta-test version before the end of this year for computers running on Windows 8 operating system.微软说，Skype翻译工具将在今年底之前推出beta测试板，可以在电脑Window 8 操作系统上工作。

The communication service Skype is available free of charge in most of the world’s countries and facilitates more than 300 million connections monthly.Skype通讯服务在世界大多数国家是免费的，每个月被连接使用3亿多次。