At the Code conference on Tuesday, the firm demonstrated ‘near real-time’ language translation for voice calls for Skype, which works just like having a real interpreter as part of the conversation. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the feature would be available later this year.

The demo showed English being translated — both the speech and in captions — to German, as his German colleague’s voice was translated to English. The live demonstration was certainly impressive, but German-speaking audience members noted that the translation was “nice” and the speakers said that the feature works for portraying the essence of the speech.

Satya Nadella said -

“The feature, which is expected to debut as a consumer beta for Windows 8 later this year, currently supports translation for about 40 languages and will be available on all devices. This is about creating a learning system that improves with data.”

Nadella was unsure if the feature would eventually become a paid add-on proposition, but it sounds like the feature will be free during the initial public beta period.