Online translators add more African languages
STORY: Kampala resident Hussain Bharmal is originally from India. He has fought a lifelong battle to understand Luganda - Uganda’s official language.
Despite being spoken by millions, Luganda is not taught in schools.
Bharmal says he has struggled to find resources to study the language he hears on street corners.
But now his struggles may be over.
Luganda was one of 24 languages added to Google Translate last month.
Bharmal says the announcement filled him with excitement.
“It was exciting for me because I finally know now that there is a translator app available. Yes, we have Luganda dictionaries in book shops and things like that, but there are very few resources on the internet. There are some Luganda handbooks and materials, very very material online to learn Luganda, but there's now a proper translation app or service that we can use. So that's amazing.”
The new batch includes ten sub-Saharan African languages, bringing the number of African languages on the profile to 23.
Ugandan IT student Andrew Njuki spend his childhood hunched over English-language textbooks and grappling with material that would have been easier to grasp in his mother tongue.
He says the instant translations available on his phone will help bridge that gap.
“I think it's a great opportunity for us, and for students like me, it's really good. Because for anyone to understand something better, you need to first understand it in your mother tongue, and then you can get it better."
And the trend is spreading.
Translation and language-learning giants like Google and DuoLingo have joined nonprofit-led efforts to expand language databases available online.
DuoLingo, which currently offers eight under-represented languages out of 40, is working to add Zulu and Xhosa - spoken by 20 million people mainly in South Africa - later this year.
相關影片推薦
- 2:02英國女遊台南「喝全糖珍奶」 嚇壞驚呼:天大錯誤華視影音211,271 次觀看・20 小時前
- 2:22世界最小核潛艇 法國老牌「紅寶石級」罕見公開 直擊內部作業、核動力能巡洋數月Yahoo奇摩(國際通)8,428 次觀看・21 小時前
- 1:30【獨家】台積電工程師揪團「包樓掃房」 業界曝:持2-3房常態|#鏡新聞鏡新聞5,632 次觀看・18 小時前
- 2:24以巴仇恨言論升溫 南加大穆斯林畢業生致詞遭取消 校方挨批屈服於霸凌Yahoo奇摩(國際通)65,050 次觀看・21 小時前
- 1:35403強震目擊山崩 倒退嚕仍遭土石雨襲擊|#鏡新聞鏡新聞56,827 次觀看・18 小時前
- 3:18五種包餡銅板美食 醫生點名「傷腎魔王」東森新聞影音7,914 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:49獨家》亂象! 瘋買螃蟹汽機車違停 行人冒險穿梭車陣東森新聞影音43,307 次觀看・17 小時前
- 2:01勞保年金最高調升7.59% 全台逾90萬退休族6月受惠民視影音222,557 次觀看・3 天前
- 1:466人花3萬吃過期肉 和牛EMPEROR強硬聲明:不會賠償東森新聞影音175,656 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:1126歲抗癌網紅因胃癌去世 生命最後5個月沒吃沒喝娛樂星聞32,300 次觀看・1 天前
熱門必看
- 3:13唐綺陽星座運勢:本週水星逆行牡羊座!上升射手注意舊情人找上門來~唐綺陽談星室51,014 次觀看・5 天前
- 9:38換乘戀愛3為何能讓大家一秒入坑? 比韓劇還扯?戀綜衝擊看點曝光Yahoo創作摩人33,146 次觀看・1 週前
- 9:57【居家清潔紀錄】花費4小時清潔廚房跟衛浴!費用、前後比對公開,結果太驚人😂原來這些都是清潔重點!★特盛吃貨艾嘉f.t.55688生活大管家特盛吃貨艾嘉11,284 次觀看・1 週前
- 1:55男生也可以飆唱紫棋的原 key!神人快拜!#好聲音推薦 #學唱歌 #歌唱教學 #翻唱 #reaction嘎老師 Miss Ga8,612 次觀看・4 天前
- 6:59簡單三步驟做出超好吃酸白菜蘿潔塔的廚房32,247 次觀看・2 天前