Skype will now facilitate communication between users who speak two different languages. The video conference service has been previewing its real-time translation services, and has seen a huge increase in video chats as a result.

After seeing over 400 percent more video chats during the preview of the translation services, Skype decided to fully release the feature, CNet reports.

Skype users will now be able to talk to a new friend in another country without learning a new language.

The company has been one of the most popular video chat programs for years, but it has faced competition from Apple Facetime and Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. With translation, Skype sets itself apart from these other programs as a premium video chat program for users of different lands.

Skype users can make new friends, search for romance abroad, or confirm reservations for an upcoming trip.

Seven Languages Served

Skype is currently able to translate seven languages with voice-to-voice technology: English, Chinese Mandarin, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Skype is seeing massive interest in the translation feature. More users are conducting video chats using the service every day. Translation between French and English has been the most popular use so far.

More Languages to Come

Skype plans to keep updating the translation feature by adding more languages. The company also plans to make translation available on even more platforms.

Languages that aren't supported by the voice-to-voice translation services from Skype might be supported by text-to-text translation. So far, 50 languages can be translated through instant message text, including Arabic, Dutch and Russian.

How to Enable the Service

In order to access the translation features, users click the globe icon in the upper right corner of a chat window. If the globe icon does not appear, the user needs to update to the latest version of Skype.

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