Google Translate Boosts Language Support with 110 New Languages

  • Google Translate app now supports 110 additional languages, expanding its total to 223 languages.
  • Powered by PaLM 2 AI language model, adept at learning closely related languages and diverse creoles.
  • Includes support for Cantonese, addressing longstanding user demand despite data challenges.
  • Approximately 25% of new languages are African, each spoken by at least one million people.
  • Reinforces Google’s commitment to linguistic diversity and global accessibility.

Main AI News:

Google has unveiled a major update to its Translate app, introducing support for 110 additional languages, significantly expanding its previous capability of 113 languages. This enhancement, powered by Google’s advanced PaLM 2 AI language model, highlights the app’s improved proficiency across a wide range of languages, including closely related ones like Hindi, Awadhi, and Marwadi, as well as diverse French creoles such as Seychellois Creole and Mauritian Creole.

Notably, the update addresses longstanding user demand by including support for Cantonese, a language noted for its complexity due to its similarities with Mandarin and the challenges in sourcing adequate training data for AI models. This expansion underscores Google’s commitment to linguistic diversity, with a quarter of the new languages originating from Africa, each spoken by millions worldwide, including several languages with hundreds of millions of speakers.

Conclusion:

This significant expansion of Google Translate’s language support not only meets widespread user demand but also underscores Google’s strategic focus on enhancing global accessibility and inclusivity. By leveraging advanced AI technology to tackle linguistic complexities, Google is poised to strengthen its position in the competitive language translation market, appealing to a broader user base worldwide.

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