DeepL launches DeepL Voice, real-time, text-based translations from voices and videos
DeepL has made a name for itself with online text translation it claims is more nuanced and precise than services from the likes of Google
Now, as the hype for AI services continues to grow, DeepL is adding in another mode to the platform: audio. Users will now be able to use DeepL Voice to listen to someone speaking in one language and automatically translate it to another, in real time.
English, German, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Dutch, French, Turkish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Italian are languages that DeepL can “hear” today. Translated captions are available for all of the 33 languages currently supported by DeepL Translator.
DeepL Voice is currently stopping short of delivering the result as an audio or video file itself: the service is aimed at real-time, live conversations and video conferencing, and comes through as text, not audio.
In the first of these, you can set up your translations to appear as ‘mirrors’ on a smartphone — the idea being that you put the phone between you on a meeting table for each side to see the words translated — or as a transcription that you share side by side with someone. The videoconferencing service sees the translations appearing as subtitles.
That could be something that changes over time, Jarek Kutylowski, the company’s founder and CEO (pictured above), hinted in an interview. This is DeepL’s first product for voice, but it’s unlikely to be its last. “[Voice] is where translation is going to play out in the next year,” he added.
There is other evidence to support that statement. Google — one of DeepL’s biggest competitors — also started to incorporate real-time translated captions into its Meet video conferencing service. And, there are a multitude of AI startups building voice translation services such as AI voice specialist Eleven Labs (Eleven Labs Dubbing), and Panjaya, which creates translations using “deepfake” voices and video that matches the audio.
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