Google has announced that Translate now supports 110 additional languages. This is the biggest update the service has received so far. It was all possible thanks to the power of AI.
For reference, before this update, Google Translate supported 133 languages. Therefore, the service’s language support has grown by more than 82% at once. Google revealed that it used its PaLM 2 AI language model to achieve such a milestone. Using artificial intelligence helps to significantly accelerate learning processes in complex systems, and this is a great example.
110 new languages join the Google Translate-supported list
The blog post highlights some of the new supported languages: Afar, Cantonese, Manx, Nko, Punjabi (Shahmukhi), Tamazight (Amazigh) and Tok Pisin. There are also “languages close to Hindi, like Awadhi and Marwadi” and “French Creoles like Seychellois Creole and Mauritian Creole.” Google’s Isaac Caswell said that “about a quarter of new languages come from Africa.”
Not all new supported languages are widely used. In fact, with this update, the company wants to contribute to the preservation of languages. There are even some that do not have any officially active speakers. Google claims that the update focused on the most common varieties of each language. This allows Google Translate to deliver reliable and usable results in the real world.
8% of the population speaks these languages
In total, the 110 new languages supported by Google Translate represent 8% of the population. This translates into more than 614 million active speakers around the world. The company had advanced its ambitious plans for Translate in 2022. At that time, the company stated that the goal is to support up to 1,000 languages, thanks to the power of AI.
This latest step puts Google closer to its goal. It also further increases the gap with Apple’s language translation service. Currently, Apple Translate supports just over 20 languages, a number that pales in comparison.
2024-06-27 15:06:11