Cantonese, Patois and Wolof: Google Translate learns 110 new languages

Jan Johannsen

27.6.2024

Translation: machine translated

With 110 new languages, Google has announced the biggest update for its translation tool Google Translate.

With the help of AI, or more precisely the PaLM 2 language model, Google is significantly expanding the capabilities of its translator. In addition to the existing 133 languages, 110 new ones have been added. These are spoken by 614 million people and range from Cantonese to Manx, which is only spoken on the Isle of Man.

From global languages with over 100 million users to regional dialects

About a quarter of the newly added languages come from Africa, as software developer Isaac Caswell from Google's Translate team writes in an official blog post.

Caswell picks out several languages and reveals details about them. Cantonese was the most requested language for Google Translate. The problem was having enough usable training material, as the language has many written overlaps with Mandarin. The Gaelic language Manx died in 1974 on the Isle of Man with the last native speaker. However, following a revitalisation, several thousand people on the island now speak the language again.

The new languages will be available in the next few days translate.google.com and in the Google Translate apps on Android and iOS.

All 110 new languages from Google Translate

Which of the new languages are you most excited about?

Jan Johannsen

Senior Editor

Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.de

As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus. more

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