Google Translate has added five new languages for the first time in four years, bringing its total to 108 languages. Among the new languages added are Tatar, Turkmen, Uyghur, Kinyarwanda (Rwanda) and Odia (India). Google said the collective speaking population of all five combined is about 75 million people around the world.
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Although now Google’s artificial intelligence-powered translation product, Google Translate, will have 108 languages, this is still a fraction of the languages on the planet. According to Ethnologue, there is about 7,117 spoken languages in the world, however, the additions cover some of the top 100 languages.
The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are considered to be one of China’s 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities. The Uyghurs are recognized by the Chinese government only as a regional minority within a multicultural nation.
“Google Translate learns from existing translations found on the web, and when languages don’t have an abundance of web content, it’s been difficult for our system to support them effectively,” – Google’s spokesperson said in a statement.
“However, due to recent advances in our machine learning technology, and active involvement from our Google Translate Community members, we’ve been able to add support for these languages.” – they added.
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