Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (MS)
Mangaluru, Jun 29: In a significant step for the preservation and promotion of regional languages, tech giant Google has added Tulu to its translation services. The announcement, made on June 27, revealed that Tulu was among 110 new languages added to Google Translate.
This development allows anyone to translate Tulu words and phrases using Google Translate, a tool that is expected to aid in the understanding and dissemination of the Tulu language. The inclusion of Tulu, which is spoken by over 2.5 million people, has brought immense pride to the Tulu-speaking community, especially since the language has not yet been recognized in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
U B Pavanaja, an IT expert, highlighted the effort involved in adding a new language to Google Translate. “Incorporating any language into Google Translate requires extensive work. Long words and sentences in Tulu need to be added to the machine learning system. Google’s decision to add Tulu acknowledges its significance to over 2.5 million speakers. This is a monumental achievement.”
Pavanaja noted that the current Tulu translations on Google Translate are in a preliminary stage and may contain inaccuracies. He emphasized the importance of users providing correct translations in the feedback section rather than sharing incorrect translations on social media. “Currently, Tulu translation is only available on the web, but it may be integrated into the Google Translate app in the future.”
He explained the process behind language addition to Google, which is based on natural language processing. “Languages are integrated using either rule-based or statistical-based methods. For statistical-based languages, a substantial corpus is required. Around 2 million translated sentences, including nouns and verbs, are added to the system. The machine learns and refines the language through usage.”
Pavanaja also mentioned that Tulu might soon be available in tools for Wikipedia translations, where currently only Kannada is supported. “This addition will enrich Tulu language translation capabilities,” he added.
Tharanath Gatty Kapikad, president of the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, hailed the inclusion of Tulu in Google Translate as a global recognition of the language. “The addition of Tulu to Google Translate is an honour for the language. Tuluvas should celebrate this achievement. It’s common for some words to be mistranslated in Google Translate. However, by providing the correct words in the feedback column, users can help improve the accuracy of Tulu translations. This feature will benefit both Tuluvas and non-Tuluvas.”
The inclusion of Tulu in Google Translate marks a significant milestone for the language, offering new opportunities for its preservation and wider use.