Google, the Silicon Valley giant, has expanded its Google Translate service to include 31 new African languages, including Dyula, Wolof, Baoulé, and Tamazight. This move marks a significant step towards making the internet more inclusive and accessible for the 200 million people who speak these languages across the continent.
The inclusion of these languages is part of Google’s broader initiative to translate 110 new languages, including Breton and Occitan, demonstrating their commitment to linguistic diversity.
“Sran ng’ɔ bo alɛ’n i jɔ’n, ɔ diman alɛ sɔ’n wie.” This Baoulé proverb, meaning “He who declares war does not participate in it,” is now translatable with Google Translate, highlighting the impact this expansion will have on cultural preservation and communication.
“Today, you can photograph a label in Mandarin and see it translated by Google Lens into Dyula,” said Abdoulaye Diack, program manager at Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) lab in Accra, Ghana. He emphasized the importance of “bringing communities together” through this innovative service.
The process of developing translation models for these languages presented significant challenges due to the limited availability of written resources. While English dominates online content, many African languages have predominantly oral uses, making data collection a priority. Google collaborated with linguists, universities, and NGOs to gather data and train its AI model, PaLM2, for these new languages.
The company actively involved local communities in evaluating and improving the translations, ensuring the highest possible quality. These efforts are a testament to Google’s commitment to accurate and culturally sensitive translations.
“There are bound to be mistakes, but it will be useful for a lot of people,” said Diack, acknowledging the ongoing development of the service.
The inclusion of these languages opens up new avenues for economic opportunities, cultural preservation, and linguistic empowerment. Google’s initiative goes beyond simply expanding its reach, contributing significantly to bridging the digital divide and promoting linguistic diversity.
Looking ahead, Google aims to integrate a thousand languages, prioritizing those with large speaker populations and available resources. The company also plans to develop speech recognition and synthesis systems for the newly added languages, making communication even more seamless. This will be particularly useful for illiterate speakers, allowing them to access information and communicate in their native languages.
Google’s commitment to immortalizing endangered languages, such as the N’Ko language, created in 1949 by Guinean writer Solomana Kanté, further highlights its dedication to cultural preservation. By providing these languages with their own writing systems, Google empowers communities and ensures their longevity.
Google’s expansion into African languages is a significant step towards a more inclusive digital world. Through its commitment to accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and technological innovation, Google is paving the way for a future where language is no longer a barrier to communication and access.