Manila: GoogleTranslate has included five additional Philippine languages in a recent mega-update aimed at building bridges between the world's language groups.
The updates include:
- Bikol,
- Hiligaynon,
- Kapampangan,
- Pangasinan, and
- Waray.
Besides these five languages, there’s also Ilocano and Cebuano already included earlier.
Many tongues and tribes
The Philippines, an archipelago comprising more than 7,600 islands, is home to between 120 and 187 languages – including a wide range of native languages mainly from the Malayo-Polynesian language family group.
The lingua-franca is Filipino, based largely in Tagalog (etymology: “taga” native, and “ilog” river, i.e. native of the river), the language spoken in Manila and surrounding provinces.
In addition to the country's indigenous tongues, Spanish and English have also played an influential role in the Philippines' linguistic history.
Updates
The updates form part of Google Translate’s drive to break language barriers with 110 new languages.
This brings the total number supported to over 130.
This means people around the world can now connect and communicate more easily, regardless of their native tongue.
AI-driven
This is great news for Filipinos who can now access information and translate content in their local languages.
The addition of these languages is powered by PaLM 2, a cutting-edge AI model that excels in multilingual communication.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, said its GoogleTranslate service is committed to further expansion, working with linguists and native speakers to support even more languages and dialects in the future.
