Google adds Iban language to Google Translate

KUCHING: The Iban language is now supported on Google’s online translation tool, Google Translate, as part of its recent expansion of 110 new languages.

Google Translate senior software engineer Isaac Caswell said they are using artificial intelligence (AI) to expand the variety of languages.

“Google Translate breaks down language barriers to help people connect and better understand the world around them.

“We’re always applying the latest technologies so more people can access this tool. In 2022, we added 24 new languages using Zero-Shot Machine Translation, where a machine learning model learns to translate into another language without ever seeing an example.

“And we announced the 1,000 Languages Initiative, a commitment to build AI models that will support the 1,000 most spoken languages around the world.

“Now, we’re using AI to expand the variety of languages we support. Thanks to our PaLM 2 large language model, we’re rolling out 110 new languages to Google Translate, our largest expansion ever,” he said in Google’s official blog, The Keyword.

He also said languages have an immense amount of variation – regional varieties, dialects, different spelling standards.

“In fact, many languages have no one standard form, so it’s impossible to pick the right variety. Our approach has been to prioritise the most commonly used varieties of each language,” he said.

The PaLM 2, he said, was a key piece to the puzzle, helping Translate more efficiently learn languages that are closely related to each other, including languages close to Hindi, like Awadhi and Marwadi, and French creoles like Seychellois Creole and Mauritian Creole.

“As technology advances, and as we continue to partner with expert linguists and native speakers, we’ll support even more language varieties and spelling conventions over time,” said Isaac.

In 2022, it was announced by Google’s chief executive officer Sundar Pichai that Iban would be one of the languages added to Google Translate.

In addition to Iban, Google Translate has expanded its language offerings to include other commonly spoken languages in Malaysia, such as Minang and Cantonese.

Meanwhile, aside from Iban, the new added languages that are commonly used in Malaysia are such as Minang and Cantonese.

Additionally, users can now translate Bahasa Melayu written in the Jawi script by choosing the newly added Malay (Jawi) option.