Microsoft Translator is now the world’s first personal universal translator

Communicating through a multitude of language barriers has been an issue for a long time schools, businesses, family, and friends. Until now, if you wanted to speak to a monolingual person on the other side of the planet, chances are you would have to learn a few words of their language. While it’s still, of course, preferable to go out and become fluent in other languages, Microsoft has developed the software necessary to bring down the language barrier – at least for some people.

Microsoft’s new universal translator is the sort of technology science fiction writers have been dreaming about for a long time. Now, you can speak face-to-face with people using one of 9 languages – and you can type in 100 different languages – all with real-time translations. The technology just requires you to have a tablet, computer, or phone on you and can open up an entirely new world of communication for a generation that’s more globally intermingled than any other before it.