Sometimes language isn’t straightforward. Only a Hindi speaker could tell you that ऊँट के मुँह में जीरा may literally mean ‘cumin seed in a camel's mouth’, it’s actually used to be mean ‘a drop in the ocean’.
There are 22 official languages in India. And while Google Translate can help you with nine of them at the moment, languages that are under-represented on the Internet like Bengali, Telugu, and Tamil could use a little help. This is where people who are passionate about their native languages like you can use the Translate Community tool to make a big difference.
We’ve just kicked off our second translatathon in India, this time for nine languages — Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam and Punjabi. You can use Google Translate Community on your phone, laptop or computer. Just type, swipe or tap translations in the languages you speak. You have the option to either translate phrases directly, or validate existing translations.
Last year 20,000 people contributed over one million new Hindi translations, helping improve the overall quality of Hindi content online. We’re now including all the Indic languages that Google Translate is available in, and we look forward to seeing how people from across the country can help Google say जंगल में मोर नाचा किस ने देखा? or আপনার পায়ে কুড়ল মারা more accurately. Millions of people in India are coming online for the first time and most of them don’t speak English. Bringing more Indian language content online, and improving Indian language translation quality, will help them have a better experience on the Web.
Validate phrases with the Google Translate Community tool |
Once you join the translatathon, you can Translate and Validate words and short phrases up until December 30th. We will then reward the 50 most active and accurate contributors with an Android One phone*.
So why not stop by and say नमस्ते, নমস্কার, வணக்கம் and help India showcase the beauty and diversity of languages online. Register and participate at g.co/translatathon and thanks in advance for your help. You’re making the web better for everyone.
*Terms and conditions apply: https://goo.gl/kEAehI
Posted by Barak Turovsky, Product Lead, Google Translate