Google announced on July 29, Wednesday that it is adding 20 brand new languages to Translate, its real-time mobile translation app that reads text and then instantly converts it into a different tongue. The extra vernaculars allow the application to read 27 languages without requiring an Internet connection, making it ideal for international travelers. Translate's voice translator will also be quicker and smoother.
Google's text translation was launched with seven languages. They included: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, and Portuguese.
The new tongues added include Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Filipino, Indonesian, Croatian, and Ukrainian. One-way translation from English to Thai and Hindi is also now available.
Meanwhile, the California company's picture mode translation needs a snapshot of text. It functions in 37 languages.
Google's translation tech is able to recognize a wide array of letters and fonts. However, it struggles to figure out handwritten script.
The application's voice translator makes conversions of various texts such as instruction manuals, ingredient lists, and street signs. It is available for iOS and Android, according to Slate.
When language decoding is first performed to or from a particular language, the instant translation app downloads a small data packet. It can then translate offline.
Google's new app features have resulted from research that developed "neural networks" that use artificial intelligence (AI) for letter and word recognition, according to The Business Times. It was constructed around its Word Lens program.
Google product leader Barak Turovsky noted that over 50 percent of Internet content is in English. However, only about 20 percent of the world's population speaks the international language.