Google Translate – now in 80 languages
December 10th, 2013 | Published in Google Translate
Whether you’re trekking to a new place or simply trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t share a language with you, Google Translate can help you connect to new information and people. Today, we’re launching 9 new languages that span Africa, Asia, and Oceania and have over 200 million native speakers, collectively.
Spotlight on our new languages
In Africa, we’re adding Somali, Zulu, and the 3 major languages of Nigeria.
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Hausa (Harshen Hausa), spoken in Nigeria and neighboring countries with 35 million native speakers
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Igbo (Asụsụ Igbo) spoken in Nigeria with 25 million native speakers
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Yoruba (èdè Yorùbá) spoken in Nigeria and neighboring countries with 28 million native speakers
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Somali (Af-Soomaali) spoken in Somalia and other countries around the Horn of Africa with 17 million native speakers
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Zulu (isiZulu) spoken in South Africa and other south-western African countries with 10 million native speakers
Throughout Asia, we’re launching languages spoken in Mongolia and South Asia.
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Mongolian (Монгол хэл), official language in Mongolia and also spoken in parts of China with 6 million native speakers
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Nepali (नेपाली), spoken in Nepal and India with 17 million native speakers
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Punjabi language (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ) (Gurmukhi script), spoken in India and Pakistan with 100 million native speakers
Thanks to the volunteer effort of passionate native speakers in New Zealand, we’re adding the language of the Maori people.
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Maori (Te Reo Māori), spoken in New Zealand with 160 thousand speakers
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| Punjabi on the Google Translate desktop web app |
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| Mongolian on the Google Translate Android app |
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You can help to add your language to Google Translate
Although Google Translate is an automatic tool, a new language sometimes needs a little love from native speakers to get off the ground. You can help launch your language by volunteering to help us gather and translate texts in your language. Sign up with this form. We’re also constantly fine-tuning our translations. You can help with these efforts by clicking the translated text and editing it to be correct.
As always, we realize that we’re just getting started and have a long way to go. But hopefully these new languages in Translate help you to connect with new friends and new cultures.
Posted by Arne Mauser, Software Engineer