Google Translate adds 24 new languages
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Google Translate has added 24 languages to its translation service, bringing the total number to 133. For many of us, Translate is an indispensable tool. It provides a convenient, accurate and quick way of comprehending vocabulary and texts in other languages. The 24 new languages are spoken by more than 300 million people worldwide. Among them are the indigenous Aymara, Guarani and Quechua languages of the Americas. Google rolled out its first translation service in 2006 and has continually added to its repository. Google said it still has a way to go to be more comprehensive. There are around 7,000 languages worldwide that Translate doesn't provide support for.
Translate needs to analyze a large range of linguistic data to be able to support a language. Isaac Caswell, a Google Translate scientist, told journalists about how advances in technology have facilitated adding the new languages. He said: "Up until a couple of years ago, it simply was not technologically possible to add languages like these, which are what we call a low resource – meaning that there are not very many text resources out there for them." He explained that Google aspires to support languages used by large populations. One of these is Lingala, spoken by 45 million people across Central Africa. It also wants to render assistance for indigenous languages that are often overlooked by technology.
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