Google Translate has expanded its language offerings to cover languages spoken by more than 614 million people, representing about 8% of the world’s population. This expansion includes a wide range of languages, from widely spoken ones to indigenous dialects and those facing endangerment. The addition of 110 new languages is the largest update yet for Google Translate.
The use of Google’s PaLM 2 language model has been instrumental in adding languages such as Hindi-related dialects and French Creoles. About a quarter of the new languages added are African languages like Fon, Kikongo, Luo, Ga, Swati, Venda, and Wolof, marking a significant push into African linguistic diversity for Google Translate.
Despite challenges such as shared characters between languages like Cantonese and Mandarin, Google is committed to expanding its linguistic diversity. Examples like the inclusion of Manx, a nearly extinct Celtic language from the Isle of Man, showcase efforts to preserve endangered languages.
The expansion also includes languages like Punjabi written in the Shahmukhi script used in Pakistan, highlighting Google’s efforts to cater to regional language variations. The introduction of Zero-Shot Machine Translation in May 2022 was a major milestone for Google Translate, allowing the model to learn new languages without pre-existing translated examples.
This expansion aligns with Google’s 1,000 Languages Initiative, aimed at using AI models to support the top 1,000 languages in the world. The dedication to linguistic diversity and preservation of endangered languages is evident in Google Translate’s latest update.
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https://www.androidcentral.com/apps-software/google-translate-adds-110-new-languages