AI upgrades Google Translate with 110 new languages

Google today announced to upgrade Translate with 110 new languages. The company revealed that it’s using PaLM 2 large language model to bring support for 110 new languages to Google Translate.

Here’s what AI does in Translate:

Romani is a language that has many dialects all throughout Europe. Google’s AI models produce text that is closest to Southern Vlax Romani, a commonly used variety online. But it also mixes in elements from others, like Northern Vlax and Balkan Romani.

PaLM 2 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.

Newly supported languages in Google Translate:

Afar is a tonal language spoken in Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Of all the languages in this launch, Afar had the most volunteer community contributions.

Cantonese has long been one of the most requested languages for Google Translate. Because Cantonese often overlaps with Mandarin in writing, it’s tricky to find data and train models.

Manx is the Celtic language of the Isle of Man.

NKo is a standardized form of the West African Manding languages that unifies many dialects into a common language.

Punjabi (Shahmukhi) is the variety of Punjabi written in Perso-Arabic script (Shahmukhi).

Tamazight (Amazigh) is a Berber language spoken across North Africa.

Tok Pisin is an English-based creole and the lingua franca of Papua New Guinea.