Google Translate has added two more South African languages, TshiVenda and SiSwati to its language suite, bringing the total number of the country’s languages appended by the multilingual machine translation service to nine.
This update was announced by Google and marks a significant step in making digital tools more inclusive and accessible.
Approximately 1.2 million South Africans speak TshiVenda, while SiSwati, an Nguni language, is spoken by around 1.5 million people living in Eswatini and South Africa.
With these additions, Google Translate now supports Afrikaans, English, Sepedi, Sesotho, isiXhosa, and isiZulu as well, reflecting the linguistic diversity of the region.
The inclusion of TshiVenda and SiSwati is part of a broader expansion that includes 110 new languages in total. This effort is powered by Google’s Palm 2 large language model, which enables the platform to provide accurate and instantaneous translations across various mediums, including text, images, speech, websites, and video.
This expansion represents the largest addition of African languages to Google Translate, with more than a quarter of the new languages coming from the continent. This development underscores Google’s commitment to bridging language barriers and enhancing communication among diverse communities worldwide.
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Google’s continued effort to expand language support on its platforms highlights the importance of digital inclusivity and the need to provide tools that cater to a global audience. The addition of TshiVenda and SiSwati will undoubtedly make a significant impact on the millions of speakers who can now access and utilize these tools in their native languages.
