From fantasy to reality -- Microsoft launches a universal translator that could revolutionize all of translation technology.

At the Code Conference last week, Microsoft demonstrated a real-time language translation without a new device, but with Skype. The device itself had its attendees scratching their heads in amazement, as well as in confusion.

Microsoft is readying its real-time language translator for Skype. The current Skype translator supports about 40 languages, and with this universal translator, Microsoft is expected to roll out later this year a Windows 8 beta version.

If you have heard of a universal translator, it is probably from Star Trek. This is what the engineers have based the genesis of their design and idea on. As of now, Microsoft will start with a handful of languages, but these will be for the Windows version of Skype. Microsoft hopes in the future that they can support and add more languages quickly, and use it to support the many types of computers and mobile devices that Skype customers access, Re/Code reported.

In a demo at the conference, Microsoft VP Gurdeep Singh Pall spoke with another Microsoft employee in German. The two awkwardly discussed Pall's plans to move to London to join the Skype team.

"London is so international, you are going to love it," Heinrichs said in German, which a female voice translated into English. "The Indian food is great." And then towards the end of the conversation, something went noticeably wrong:

Pall: "So what brings you to the United States, in addition to of course helping me with this demo?"

Heinrichs: "I have many meetings with my colleagues in Redmond and I take the opportunity to see her fiance my."

Pall paused, and then responded: "That's nice!"

Clearly Microsoft has to solve the bugs, Forbes reported. Microsoft is still working out the massive amounts of conversations and data sharing that is taking place on Skype, so that the translations can run smoother. In any case, the other potential for the translator is to make business. Skype's service has 300 million monthly active users around the world. This could be a great new opportunity to conduct business meetings, Forbes reported.

This might also influence competitors like Google and Apple to add a similar feature to Hangouts and FaceTime respectively.

Microsoft and this new technology is expanding by leaps and bounds. One of the most fascinating discoveries coming out of the universal translator is its ability to learn, called transfer learning. Pall touts that "if you teach it English, it learns English, and if then you teach it Mandarin, it learns Mandarin, but it becomes better at English," Forbes reported. The problem is, however, they do not understand why it is happening.  

Microsoft has stated in a blog post that they have been working on this feature for over a decade, and these are the results of the research: speech recognition, automatic translation, and machine learning technologies, CNET reported.

"It is early days for this technology, but the Star Trek vision for a Universal Translator isn't a galaxy away, and its potential is every bit as exciting as those Star Trek examples," Pall wrote in the blog post, CNET reported.