Google adds 24 languages from the Global South to its Google Translate platform.

In April 2022, Google made a revolutionary move by adding 24 new languages, primarily from sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent, to the supported languages on their neural method translation service, Google Translate. This spelt another breakthrough for the company and its product as it addressed indigenous languages, which were often overlooked. 

The Google Translate feature started out in 2006 with just three languages: English, French, and Spanish. Over time, they made various updates and included other global languages such as Amharic (32 million speakers) and Arabic (350 million speakers). However, many other prominent languages from the Global South have unfortunately not been added yet. For example, Cantonese, the official language of South Eastern China and Macau, has over 80 million native speakers and is noticeably missing from the platform. 

Also, Odia, spoken by over 35 million people in India, was only added in 2020, and it begs the question, why the inconsistency? A school of thought believes the cultural and religious differences of certain nations play a part in this imbalance. Arabic and Amharic for instance belong to nations with very rich roots in the most popular religions in the world, Islam and Christianity respectively.  Thus, the Qur’an and the Bible are the perfect test subjects for research advancements.

More minor languages do not have these sorts of distinctions, but with their inclusion in Google Translate, we will start to see more of their speakers on social media and blogs talking about minute details like the weather to politics. And in a couple of years, we can start to see more trained processors that can adapt to these languages.

Additionally, one of the most undeniable benefits of Google Translate is its huge role in enhancing globalization.The Translate feature is tied into almost every major social media platform like Twitter and Instagram. It is virtually possible for people from opposite ends of the globe with no understanding of each other’s languages to communicate.

Also, the integration of translation services like Google Translate and DeepL into social media platforms like Twitter can either come in handy in times of crisis or be completely unhelpful. For example, well-sourced countries like English-speaking Australia had the world’s attention in 2019-2020 with the bushfires. This immediately went viral due to various intertwining factors, including the resources of the Australian media and the campaigns on social media. These campaigns included the English hashtags #helpaustralia and #australiawildfires which helped spread awareness.

Alternatively, a crisis could occur in a third-world country with limited resources, such as an unsupported language. Foreign aid would not be as readily available in this case.  A decade prior to the 2020 Australian wildfires, a small country in the Caribbean, Haiti, went into a state of emergency overnight when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck its capital, Port-au-Prince. In its aftermath, several measures were taken to alleviate the condition of these folks. One of these efforts was the inclusion of Haitian Creole- Haiti’s official language- to the Google Translate repertoire on January 30, 2010. This addition was a sole addition during the 16th stage. 

It is almost impossible to figure out where the next catastrophe will occur. But rest assured, should another disaster occur in Togo, or Bolivia, thanks to Google Translate's new update, it will be easier to chat directly with people in the affected regions to inquire about perhaps the extent of flooding or the symptoms of an epidemic.

Here’s a complete list of the new languages that have recently been integrated in Google Translate.