Google I/O: Google Translate Adds 24 New Languages, 8 Of Them Are Used In India

Among the 24 new languages that Google Translate has added to its translation list, eight are in use in India.

For years, Google Translate has helped break down language barriers. Image: Google

New Delhi: According to tech giant Google, for years, Google Translate has helped break down language barriers and connect communities all over the world and the company announced at the Google I/O conference that it wants to make this possible for even more people, especially those whose languages aren’t represented in most technology. Google Translate has added 24 languages to its translation service, and it now supports a total of 133 languages used around the globe.

"Over 300 million people speak these newly added languages — like Mizo, used by around 800,000 people in the far northeast of India, and Lingala, used by over 45 million people across Central Africa. As part of this update, Indigenous languages of the Americas (Quechua, Guarani and Aymara) and an English dialect (Sierra Leonean Krio) have also been added to Translate for the first time," Isaac Caswell, Senior Software Engineer, Google Translate, said in a statement.

Among the 24 new languages that Google Translate has added to its translation list, eight are in use in India. The translation list of Indian languages now includes Dogri (Northern India), Konkani (Central India), Assamese (Northeast India), Bhojpuri (Northern India), Maithili (Northern India), Meitelon (or Manipuri, Northeast India), Mizo (Northeast India) and Sanskrit which is used by almost 20,000 people in India.

According to the tech giant, these are the first languages added using Zero-Shot Machine Translation, which is a technical feat for the company. However, the company mentioned that the technology is not yet perfect.