By John Ikani
Global tech giant Google has added 10 new African languages to its Google Translate platform.
The new African languages are a part of 24 new languages spoken by more than 300 million people added to the translate software.
“For years, Google Translate has helped break down language barriers and connect communities all over the world,” the US-based company said in a statement announcing the additions.
It added that it now wants to help those whose languages “aren’t represented in most technology”.
The new African languages include:
• Bambara – spoken in Mali
• Ewe – spoken in Ghana and Togo
• Krio – spoken in Sierra Leone
• Lingala – spoken in large parts of central Africa including the Democratic Republic of Congo
• Luganda – spoken in Uganda and Rwanda
• Oromo – spoken in Ethiopia
• Sepedi – spoken in South Africa
• Tigrinya – spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia
• Tsonga – spoken in South Africa
• Twi – spoken in Ghana
Several other African languages were already available, including Amharic, Hausa and Somali.
In the past, the software used to translate as well as learn how to improve the interpretation relied on being fed material that had already been translated.
There is a large and growing amount of text in the more widely spoken and used languages – but this is not the case for many others.
Google has said that these new additions rely on novel software which does not require reference to previous examples.
