Google Adds Ten African Languages to Its Translation Service
Google recently announced the inclusion of ten new African languages in its translation service. These languages encompass Oromo, Tigrinya, Tebu, Bambara, Ewe, Krio, Lingala, Lozi, Saho, and Tsonga.
For instance, Bambara is spoken by approximately 14 million people in Mali, while Ewe has around seven million speakers in Ghana. Oromo boasts 37 million speakers in Ethiopia and northern Kenya, while Tigrinya is spoken by eight million individuals in Eritrea and the Tigray region.
Lingala has a vast user base of 47 million people across Central Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, and Sudan. Tebu, on the other hand, has 11 million speakers in Ghana.
Afaan Oromoo one of The five languages has added on Google translation service
Google's translation service is a multilingual platform developed by the tech giant to translate text, documents, and websites from one language to another. This service is accessible on their website as well as through their mobile app.
Abdissa Banka, an IT and communications specialist, established the website "oroict.com" in 2006 and has been involved in numerous technological initiatives. The translation efforts initially focused on participants who were proficient in English and linguistic experts.
Abdissa's team encountered challenges in ensuring translation accuracy, primarily because most translations were contributed by interested individuals rather than linguistic experts. Approximately 220,000 out of roughly 280,000 phrases and paragraphs were carefully reviewed for accuracy.
Abdissa notes that about 60,000 translations of words, phrases, and paragraphs still remain at the participant-contributed quality level. Google is actively working on improving the accuracy of its translations, aiming for deep translate capabilities to enhance the trustworthiness of its site translate feature.
The Role of Linguistic Experts in Deep Site Translation
Google has added only five languages to its repertoire over the past five years, but a few months ago, they announced plans to include 25 major languages.
Abdissa acknowledges translation errors due to the fact that translations were initially provided by enthusiastic individuals rather than linguistic experts. He mentions efforts to collaborate with various entities, including government bodies, to involve university scholars and others in translation work, but they have not received significant assistance so far.
In response to a question about what Google's launch of the Oromo service signifies, Abdissa believes it will connect the world in the realm of technology, making it a global village. He emphasizes the importance of preserving one's language, as it is intertwined with identity, culture, and heritage. Using services in English or other languages could lead to the loss of one's identity.
Google currently supports 133 translated languages and has added 24 languages this year alone. The company is committed to continuous improvement in its translation service, aiming to provide accurate and reliable translations to build trust among its users.
