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Google Translate adds Hawaiian, Samoan and 11 other languages

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  • COURTESY GOOGLE

    A screenshot showed the English-to-Hawaiian translation feature of Google Translate in action.

Hawaiian has now been included in Google Translate, along with a dozen other languages from Amharic to Xhosa, according to Google’s blog.

Since 2006, Google Translate has grown to include 103 “machine learning-based translations” encompassing 99 percent of the online population, according to the blog.

The new languages now allow another 120 million people to communicate via Translate using Amharic, Corsican, Frisian, Kyrgyz, Hawaiian, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Luxembourgish, Samoan, Scots Gaelic, Shona, Sindhi, Pashto and Xhosa.

Google says it scans the Internet for “billions of already translated texts” and uses “machine learning to identify statistical patterns at enormous scale, so our machines can ‘learn’ the language. But, as already existing documents can’t cover the breadth of a language, we also rely on people like you in Translate Community to help improve current Google Translate languages and add new ones, like Frisian and Kyrgyz. So far, over 3 million people have contributed approximately 200 million translated words.”

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  • Sitting at the bus stop here in Honolulu, I only hear the homeless from the mainland speaking English. Other than that, I only hear Pilipinas. Japanese. Talofa Samoa. Tongan. Micronesia. Korean. Puppies barking. LOL.

  • What happened to the big Polynesian-Hawaiian newspaper translation project that was going on last year. I guess there is no more need to spend millions doing it. Now anyone can read those papers for themselves. Oh, and the weekend Polynesian-Hawaiian column in this paper will no longer be able to hide their political hate America commentary behind a language that less than 5% of the people in Hawaii care to speak, as it is used no where else in the world.

    • Careful there Diver Dave. Google translate is far from perfect. To show you what happens, I have taken a portion of this news report and used Google to translate it into Hawaiian — if you know Hawaiian you can see there are numerous inaccuracies — then copy/pasted the resultant Hawaiian passage back into Google to translate it back into English. — and you can see how awful it was after two translates. This is true not only for Hawaiian but for any language; try it with Japanese, or Arabic. And of course there are huge problems if you’re translating an idiom or a kana (double-meaning). Nevertheless, it’s a great tool to figure out the approximate meaning, and then use your knowledge of the language to improve what comes out. See my next two posts here: A portion of this news report translated into Hawaiian, and then that Hawaiian version translated back into English.

      • Ua ulu e komo 103 “mīkini na palapala he-Aʻo AaOAaXIeAeU” hoʻopuniʻana 99 pakeneka o ka heluna kanaka online,, e like me ka moʻomanaʻo.

        Ka hou ‘ōlelo Ano ae kekahi 120 miliona kanaka e manawalea Via Unuhi ka hoʻohana’ ana Amahapika, Hawaiian, Hawaiian, Kyrgyz, Hawaiian, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Luxembourgish, Sâmoan, Hawaiian Hawaiian, Shona, Kiniki, Pashto a me Xhosa.

        Google nei ia scan NineManga.com i ka Internet for “ieeeea o ua unuhi nā haʻawina,” a me ka hoʻohana “mīkini aʻoʻana, e hōʻike ana helu lauana ma alahula pālākiō, pela ko makou machines e ‘aʻo’ o ka ‘ōlelo. Aka, e like me ka ua i na palapala e hiki ole uhi i ka laulā o ka ‘ōlelo, ka makou no hoi hilinai aku maluna o na kanaka e like me oukou i Unuhi Community e kōkua ienoai pono Google Unuhi’ ōlelo a hui hou kamalii, e like me Hawaiian, a me Kyrgyz. A hiki, maluna o 3 miliona kanaka i hoʻokumu kaha 200 miliona unuhi olelo. “

        • Suspicion enter 103 “machine learning-based translations” ho’opuni’ana 99 percent of the online population ,, according to the blog.

          The new words now and another 120 million people communicate via concept using Amharic, Texas, Monday, Kyrgyz, Texas, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Luxembourgish, Samoan, Hawaiian, Shona, Sindhi, Pashto and Xhosa.

          Google to scan NineManga.com the Internet for “billion of translation studies,” and using “digital a’o’ana show number patterns in enormous scale, so our machines to learn the language. but, as we all can not cover the breadth of the language, we also rely on people like you to translate Community to help improve rights Google Translate say goodbye ones like Texas and Kyrgyz. and, over 3 million people to 200 million marks established Translator. “

        • This reminds me of the “owner instructions” booklet you get when you buy a radio or camera manufactured in China. Huh? Wah choo sane?

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