Like other translators, the software developed by Microsoft Research allows you to talk to it in your native tongue and send it out the speaker of a device as another language -- Spanish, French, Chinese, or such.

What comes out of that speaker, though, isn't the ersatz speech of a computer robot, but an ersatz approximation of what you sound like.

What's more, the software will create a 3D image of your head that makes it look as if you're speaking the translation.

Called Monolingual TTS, the system currently has 26 languages in its repertoire.

Acquainting the system with a voice does take more time than it does in your typical speech recognition program -- about an hour of training Monolingual TTS in your vocal tones.