On June 27, Google announced that it was adding 110 new languages to its Translate tool. The company has utilised the PaLM 2 artificial intelligence model to power its translation capabilities.
A new variety of languages include Cantonese, which has long been one of the most requested languages for Google Translate, as well as the Isle of Man’s Manx language, Nko, Tamazight (Amazigh), Punjabi (Shahmukhi), Fijian, Portuguese (Portugal), Tibetan, Tahitian, Tok Pisin, an English-based creole language of Papua New Guinea Balinese, and Afar, a tonal language spoken in Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.
Google mentioned that the inclusion of additional languages represents more than 614 million speakers, or 8% of the world’s population. It also pointed out that these languages have various stages of usage. Some languages have 100 million speakers, while others currently have no native speakers. However, efforts are being made to preserve those less commonly spoken languages. The company said it takes into account factors such as regional varieties, dialects, and different spelling standards when adding support for a language.
The addition of new languages to Google Translate is part of its initiative to support 1,000 languages through AI, which the company announced back in 2022. Google emphasised that the PaLM 2 large language model was “a key piece to the puzzle, helping Translate more efficiently learn languages that are closely related to each other.”
PaLM 2, or Pathways Language Model 2, is the new and enhanced version of the original PaLM. Enhancements include coding abilities, multilingual expertise, and improved reasoning capabilities. Beyond using artificial intelligence, Google has also collaborated with expert linguists and native speakers to truly understand a wide range of language varieties.
With the latest additions, Google Translate now covers a total of 243 languages. The full list of newly added languages can be found on Google’s help page.