Google Translate Blog: 2013

Google Translate - now in 80 languages

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Whether you’re trekking to a new place or simply trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t share a language with you, Google Translate can help you connect to new information and people. Today, we’re launching 9 new languages that span Africa, Asia, and Oceania and have over 200 million native speakers, collectively.

Spotlight on our new languages

In Africa, we’re adding Somali, Zulu, and the 3 major languages of Nigeria.

Hausa (Harshen Hausa), spoken in Nigeria and neighboring countries with 35 million native speakers
Igbo (Asụsụ Igbo) spoken in Nigeria with 25 million native speakers
Yoruba (èdè Yorùbá) spoken in Nigeria and neighboring countries with 28 million native speakers

Somali (Af-Soomaali) spoken in Somalia and other countries around the Horn of Africa with 17 million native speakers
Zulu (isiZulu) spoken in South Africa and other south-western African countries with 10 million native speakers

Throughout Asia, we’re launching languages spoken in Mongolia and South Asia.

Mongolian (Монгол хэл), official language in Mongolia and also spoken in parts of China with 6 million native speakers
Nepali (नेपाली), spoken in Nepal and India with 17 million native speakers
Punjabi language (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ) (Gurmukhi script), spoken in India and Pakistan with 100 million native speakers

Thanks to the volunteer effort of passionate native speakers in New Zealand, we’re adding the language of the Maori people.

Maori (Te Reo Māori), spoken in New Zealand with 160 thousand speakers

Punjabi on the Google Translate desktop web app

Mongolian on the Google Translate Android app

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You can help to add your language to Google Translate

Although Google Translate is an automatic tool, a new language sometimes needs a little love from native speakers to get off the ground. You can help launch your language by volunteering to help us gather and translate texts in your language. Sign up with this form. We’re also constantly fine-tuning our translations. You can help with these efforts by clicking the translated text and editing it to be correct.

As always, we realize that we’re just getting started and have a long way to go. But hopefully these new languages in Translate help you to connect with new friends and new cultures.

Posted by Arne Mauser, Software Engineer

Have an easier conversation with Google Translate on Android

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Cross-posted from the Inside Search Blog

Have you ever been in that frustrating situation where you meet someone -- yet can’t communicate because you don’t speak each other’s language? Well, hopefully communication can become a whole lot easier with the launch of the new Google Translate app for Android. The app now features faster and simpler speech translation, additional language support, and a sleek new look.

Converse without boundariesLet’s say you're taking your first vacation abroad and decide to head to Spain. The only problem? You don't speak Spanish. Now -- equipped with just your Android device -- you can have a fully translated back-and-forth conversation from Spanish to English with very little work. All you need to do is open up your Translate app and press the microphone icon. We’ve also added gesture support, so with a simple turn of the screen, you can switch back and forth between languages. This makes ordering food in that authentic Tapas restaurant a whole lot easier!

More translate options for more languages

With today’s updated Translate app, we also offer more language support for our handwriting feature, allowing you to directly write words in Hebrew, Greek, Javanese, and Esperanto on your device screen and have them translated on the fly. You can also use our camera translation feature to take a photo of written text with your Android device and highlight which words you’d like to be translated, now including additional language support for Malay and Ukranian.

We hope Google Translate can continue to help break down more language barriers in easier ways, all on your mobile device. We'll be rolling the update out via the Google Play Store today and tomorrow. We hope you give it a whirl!

Posted by Matthew Gaba, Product Manager

A fresh look for Google Translate on iOS, with more languages and new features

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Cross posted from the Inside Search Blog.

When you’re trekking around a new place or trying to communicate with someone who speaks a different language, Google Translate helps break down the language barrier. Today we updated and optimized the Google Translate app for iOS 7, where you’ll see a fresh new look, handwriting support, and 70+ languages.

If you’re on vacation in Kyoto, and want to learn more about an exotic flower arrangement, use text-input to type in your question and translate from English to Japanese with ease. You can also hear your translation spoken back to you in Japanese.

If a shopkeeper in Paris wants to talk with a visitor from Spain, they can tap the microphone, speak naturally, and quickly translate from French to Spanish with a few simple taps.

If you are an expat living in China and want to know what’s on the menu, use the Handwrite feature to discover a tasty new treat. Tap the Handwrite icon, and input natural handwriting in nearly 50 languages.

Google Translate is useful in many situations, especially while you’re on the go. We hope you enjoy the new design and features.

Posted by Masakazu Seno, Software Engineer, Google Translate

Translate Google+ posts and comments with Google Translate

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Whenever there's a Google+ public post or comment that isn’t in your language, you'll now see a "Translate" link underneath the text. Clicking the link translates the text in-line, and clicking again returns to the original. (You can set/check your language prefences here: www.google.com/settings/account )

The Google Translate team is always working to make information more accessible to individuals around the world. In Google+ this means bringing people together regardless of their written language, and breaking down language barriers that can limit the exchange of ideas.

We’re rolling out the feature gradually on desktop, so look for the new “Translate” link, and let us know your thoughts!

Posted by +Ed Chi, Research Scientist, and +Lichan Hong, Software Engineer

Sometimes It’s Easiest to Just Write It Down

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Last year we brought handwriting input to Google Translate for Android. Earlier this year, we updated Google Input Tools on desktop by adding new virtual keyboards, input method editors, and transliteration input tools. Today, we take our input tools one step further, by bringing handwriting input to the Google Translate homepage.
Handwriting input lets you translate a written expression, even if you don’t know how to type the characters. For example, suppose you see the Chinese expression “饺子” and want to know its meaning in English, but have no idea how to type these characters. Using the new handwriting input tool, you can simply draw these characters on your screen and instantly see the translation.

Once you have chosen your input language, you will see the input tools icon at the bottom of the text area. Click the input tools icon to switch to handwriting in the drop-down menu. You can then begin drawing your text on the main panel of the handwriting tool. You can draw multiple characters at once.

We currently have handwriting support for 45 languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Handwriting input is also available in the Google Input Tools Chrome extension. Other text input tools in Translate include virtual keyboards, input method editors, and transliteration. They are also available in other Google products, including Gmail, Drive, Chrome, and Android. We hope handwriting will make your translation experience easier than ever!
Posted by Xiangye Xiao, Product Manager

Take your Phrasebook on the go—and translate by camera in 16 more languages

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

When you’re traveling in another country, you want quick access to your favorite translated phrases—whether it’s “Where can I find a museum?” or “Do you know where the bathroom is?” Google Translate lets you save these translations in your Phrasebook, but you still could not easily access them on the go from your phone or tablet. Starting today, you can automatically sync the phrases in your Phrasebook to your Android device using the Google Translate mobile app, so you can carry your most useful phrases with you wherever you go.
To get started, select Phrasebook in the app menu of the Google Translate app for Android. (Notice that Phrasebook replaces the Favorites feature; your saved phrases are now part of your Phrasebook.) To sync your phrases, simply sign in to your Google Account by tapping the ‘Sign in’ button at the top of your Phrasebook.

With your favorite phrases synced across devices, we hope you’ll never be at a loss for words again.
Last but not least, this latest release of Google Translate for Android sees a significant improvement to the camera-input feature. You can now use camera-input to find translations in 16 additional languages: Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Croatian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Latvian, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, and Swedish.
Happy translating!
Minqi Jiang, Associate Product Manager, on behalf of the Google Translate Team

More than 70 of the world’s languages in the blink of an eye

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

If you took a quick snapshot of content available on the web, you might think that everyone around the world spoke English, Chinese, French or Spanish. But in fact, millions of people around the world speak an incredible array of languages that currently have a small presence across the web.

Google Translate helps bridge the divide between the content available online and people’s ability to access that information. Starting today, you can translate another five languages using Google, which combined are spoken by more than 183 million people around the globe:

Bosnian is an official language in Bosnia and Herzegovina that’s also spoken in regions of neighboring countries and by diaspora communities around the world.

Cebuano is one of the languages spoken in the Philippines, predominantly in the middle (Visayas) and southern (Mindanao) regions of the nation.

You can hear the Hmong language spoken in many countries across the world, including China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and throughout the United States.

Javanese is the second most-spoken language in Indonesia (behind Indonesian), with 83 million native speakers.

Marathi is spoken in India and has 73 million native speakers. Google Translate already supports several other Indian languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

With the exception of Bosnian, these new languages are “alpha,” meaning while the quality isn’t perfect, we will continue to test and improve them over time. You can access Translate on the web at https://translate.google.com, on your Android or iOS device, or via Chrome and in Gmail. We are excited to reach the 70+ language milestone, and we look forward to continuing to add more languages.

Bosnian: Google Prevodilac sada podržava više od 70 jezika!

Cebuano: Google sa Translate misuporta na karon sa kapin sa 70 ka mga!

Hmong: Google Translate nim no txhawb nqa tshaj li 70 hom lus!

Javanese: Google Translate saiki ndhukung luwih saka 70 basa!

Marathi: Google भाषांतर आता 70 पेक्षा जास्त भाषांचे समर्थन करते! Posted by Sveta Kelman, Program Manager, Google Translate

Google Translate now supports Khmer

Thursday, April 18, 2013

What better way to start Cambodian new year than with the addition of the Khmer language to Google Translate as our 66th supported language. We hope that this will help open up the web to Khmer speakers and likewise make Khmer content more accessible to the rest of the world.
Our focus is and always will be our users. The Google Translate team works hard to improve the quality of our translations so that each newly launched language is of a quality good enough to help the users who rely on it. Khmer now meets our standards to be launched with “alpha” status. That means it is an early version of the translation system that will be usable in many situations, but may not be adequate for all.
Today’s Khmer launch comes with these useful features: virtual keyboard (in case you want to type in Khmer but do not have Khmer keyboard handy) and ability to read Khmer text phonetically for users who don't read Khmer alphabet.

Khmer is a challenging language for translation systems for two reasons: There isn’t a lot of Khmer data on the web and words are not usually separated by spaces; so in addition to teaching our translation system a new language, it also has to learn how to separate words (what we call segmentation).

Over time, we will improve the system and make our Khmer translations better. We constantly improve our algorithm when we find new translations and learn from your alternative translations.

If your language is not yet supported, please rest assured that our team is working hard behind the scenes to support additional languages. The more your language is used on publicly available websites with translations into other languages, the sooner we are likely to start supporting it. So please use your language on the web and help us collect new translations by uploading your translations with the Translator Toolkit.

សួស្ដីឆ្នាំថ្មី (Happy New Year)!

Post by Arne Mauser, Software Engineer, on behalf of the Google Translate Team

The World’s Languages in Your Pocket (No Internet Required)

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Have you ever found yourself in a foreign country, wishing you knew how to say "I'm lost!" or "I'm allergic to peanuts”? The Internet and services like Google Translate can help—but what if you don't have a connection?
Today we're launching offline language packages for Google Translate on Android (2.3 and above) with support for fifty languages, from French and Spanish to Chinese and Arabic.
You can select [Offline Languages] in the app menu to see all the offline language packages available for download. To enable offline translation between any two languages, you just need to select them in the offline languages menu. Once the packages are downloaded, you're good to go.

While the offline models are less comprehensive than their online equivalents, they are perfect for translating in a pinch when you are traveling abroad with poor reception or without mobile data access.

So go out and explore another language or another culture without worrying about Internet access. There’s a whole world offline out there.

Posted by Minqi Jiang, Associate Product Manager, on behalf of the Google Translate Team

Never Forget a Useful Phrase Again - Introducing Phrasebook for Google Translate

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Your knowledge of a language is largely determined by how well you can say the right things at the right time. But with so many useful phrases out there, it can be hard to keep track of them all, let alone recall them when needed. With Google Translate, you can find the right thing to say, but you may not remember the translation at the right time. You might find yourself performing the same translation again and again, until you finally commit the translation to memory. Phrasebook for Google Translate jumpstarts this slow learning process by allowing you to save the most useful phrases to you, for easy reference later on, exactly when you need them. By revisiting the useful phrases in your Phrasebook from time to time, you can turn any brief translation into lasting knowledge. It’s easy to start using Phrasebook. Simply click the star under the translated text to save the translation in your Phrasebook.

To view your Phrasebook, simply click the Phrasebook icon above the upper-right corner of the box containing the translation.

Click any phrase in your Phrasebook to load it back in the translation area. Using the Phrasebook controls, you can filter your phrases by language pair or search for a specific phrase. You can also easily listen to each phrase by hovering over the entry and selecting the text-to-speech icons.

We hope your new Phrasebook will come in handy as you use Google Translate. We'd love to hear any feedback you have about this new feature. You can tell us what you think about Phrasebook through the "Send Feedback" option at the bottom of the Google Translate homepage.

- The Google Translate Team

Get your YouTube video captions professionally translated into 36 languages

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

(Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Partners & Creators Blog)
Back in September, we launched a feature that made it easier to make your YouTube video accessible in more than 300 languages and help grow your audience globally, by translating the video’s captions yourself or inviting friends or people you know to help translate. Now you can connect directly with translation vendors and pay to get your captions translated quickly and professionally.
When you request a translation for your captions in YouTube, we’ll display a list of vendors along with their estimated pricing and delivery date so you can easily compare. We’ve initially collaborated with two companies, Gengo and Translated.net, to make their services available to you and to streamline the ordering process.

Just click “Start order” next to the vendor you’d like to use. This will then create an order and direct you to the vendor’s website to complete payment. When the translator completes the translation, they’ll send the translated caption directly back to YouTube. Once you approve, the translated caption will now be available for all your viewers!
Need to add a caption track to your video?
Before you can translate your video, you’ll first need a caption track for your video. One of the easiest and quickest way to create a caption track is to create or upload a transcript of your video. YouTube will then automatically sync your transcript with the video and create the time codes to generate the caption track. For more info, watch this video or take a look at this helpful guide.

Don’t know which languages to translate your video into?
If your video has already been published, let YouTube Analytics help. YouTube Analytics can show you the top geographies viewing your video, so you can choose the languages spoken in these countries. Learn more about YouTube Analytics here.
Posted by Jeff Chin, Product Manager, who recently watched the “H+” digital series which has been captioned and subtitled into Spanish.