The video conferencing platform that’s one of the few companies that saw massive gains during the global pandemic in 2020, Zoom, is building out its platform’s features. The company has now acquired Kites, (Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions), a company that works on real-time transcription and translation services.

Zoom meets Babbel?

While Zoom already has a real-time transcription feature for English speakers, that’s not the case with many other languages. Now, in addition to transcription, the video conferencing tool is looking to add translation capability to its app.

Kites was originally built as a tool for teachers — it would allow for real-time translation in a classroom setting for students who speak different languages to lecturers. Of course, if the tool functions well in the second-to-second translation in a classroom, we’re sure it’ll be able to keep up with a Zoom conference call.

The live transcription feature in the current app isn’t flawless either, so Kites’ tech may help build out the feature into something far more useful to the everyday user. Many people may prefer doing presentations in their native tongue, but we’ll also need to see exactly how this feature functions irl.

Source: The Verge