Tag Archives: languages

Gmail goes multilingual with Input Tools, now supports 75 languages

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Gmail goes multilingual with Input Tools, now supports 75 languages

Gmail has had an automatic message translation feature for awhile, but now it's really stepping up its game for multilingual users. The popular email service has added more than 100 virtual keyboards, transliteration and IMEs to help you communicate in as many as 75 languages, which is a quite the improvement over the five languages it supported before. Simply enable "input tools" in Language under Settings, and you'll see an Input Tools drop down in your toolbar. Select the language you want, and away you go. You can also add the Input Tools function elsewhere via a Chrome extension, a Windows desktop client, or an Android app. Now, if only Google would sort out your upcoming exams in Chinese 201...

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Gmail goes multilingual with Input Tools, now supports 75 languages originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NTT DoCoMo translation app converts languages in real time (hands-on video)

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NTT DoCoMo translation Android app converts languages in real time handson video

Last year at CEATEC, we saw NTT DoCoMo demo its translation app, which made life easier by translating a Japanese menu into English text. This time around the carrier is showing off the new Hanashite Hon'yaku service for Android devices, which can translate spoken Japanese to English and vice versa (it supports a total of 10 languages, including French, German and Korean). In addition to providing an on-screen translation, the system reads out your speaking partner's words in your language.To use the service, you need an Android-enabled (2.2 and higher) device running on either the carrier's spumode or moperaU plan. Provided you fit those requirements, you'll simply have to dial the other party, speak into the phone and wait for it to play back your words in a foreign tongue.

Of course, you can also use the service in person, which is exactly what we did at DoCoMo's booth. When we gave it a test run with some simple questions ("Where are you from?", "What time is it?"), the app had no trouble spitting back those phrases in Japanese so the DoCoMo rep could respond. When he answered in Japanese, the translation to English was equally seamless, taking just a second or two to communicate that he is from Japan. Though the app is free, you'll have to pay call and data charges (using the service for face-to-face conversation only entails a data fee). The cross-cultural barriers will break down starting November 1st, but you can get a glimpse of the service in action just after the break.

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NTT DoCoMo translation app converts languages in real time (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 10:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Klingon Monopoly

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klingon monopoly Klingon Monopoly
Do your Klingon speaking friends feel left out when you play board games? Do you want to learn a second language while playing a fun game? Well how about the Klingon Monopoly Klingon Monopoly game? It’s Star Trek meets Monopoly. The gameplay is the same as regular Monopoly but there’s a bilingual aspect on each card and spot:
klingon monopoly closeup Klingon Monopoly
That’s geeky. The player tokens are all Star Trek related, you get Captain’s Chair, Klingon Gavel, Disruptor, Bat’leth, K’k tahg, and Bird of Prey. There’s even a special rulebook if you choose for 60 minute fast play. That’s Klingon efficiency! Fun for all. Live long and monopolize.

buy now Klingon Monopoly

Klingon Monopoly


Google’s Voice Search on Android adds support for 13 additional languages

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Google's Voice Search on Android adds support for 13 additional languages

Even though it's also on iOS now, Android is still the first love for Google's Voice Search and the company announced today it's adding support for an additional 13 languages on the platform, bringing the total to 42 languages and accents understood in 46 countries. The list includes Basque, Bulgarian. Catalan, European Portuguese, Finnish, Galician, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak and Swedish. Just like it has since at least 2010 when Voice Actions were introduced it will require Android 2.2 or higher, and is easily accessible either from the search box on your home screen or in the Voice Search app. We should note that it still only understands one language at a time and you may need to change some settings, also the new languages weren't showing up yet on every device we tried -- just some of them. Hit the source link for a few more details on how machine learning was used to extrapolate the pronunciation of all Swedish words based on thousands of samples from native speakers, or just grab a nearby phone or tablet and have Pau Gasol speak some Catalan to it -- although obviously Salvador Dali would be preferred, were he available.

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Google's Voice Search on Android adds support for 13 additional languages originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 03:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twitter announces it’s now available in three more languages: Greek, Czech and Basque

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Twitter announces it's now available in three more languages: Greek, Czech and Basque

Early last year, Twitter kicked off its Translation Center efforts in hopes of bringing support for more languages to the site with help of amicable volunteers from all over the globe. Naturally, this has helped the renowned Blue Bird network immensely during its global gibberish quest, having added compatibility with right-to-left idioms since the program started and, more recently, Ukranian and Catalan. To make things even better, today Twitter's announced it's now available in a few more, including Basque, Czech and Greek -- which means that a simple trip to account settings can now translate your current 140-character experience into one of the aforementioned languages if you so choose. Twitter's Translation Center is open to anyone willing to lend a hand, so those interested in helping the cause can pay the more coverage link a visit to learn how to get involved.

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Twitter announces it's now available in three more languages: Greek, Czech and Basque originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 03:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google launches Endangered Languages website to save 3,000 at-risk tongues

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DNP Google launches Endangered Languages website to preserve atrisk tongues with

Google lets users surf the web in 40-plus languages, and its Translate service accounts for 57 different tongues, but those numbers are dwarfed by the grand total of 7,000 currently existing languages. On its official blog today, the company announced the Endangered Languages Project, a website dedicated to preserving at-risk dialects by providing information via audio, video and text samples. Google collaborated with the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and Eastern Michigan University to compile research on the 3,000 languages at risk of dying out, and each language's profile includes results drawn from Google Books. Click through to the source link to check out a global visualization of these tongues -- it's mind-boggling that there are 52 endangered languages in Brazil alone.

Google launches Endangered Languages website to save 3,000 at-risk tongues originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Google Official Blog  |  sourceThe Endangered Languages Project  | Email this | Comments

Google updates translate plugin and Android app, unites nations

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Google translate plugin update lets website owners improve their lingo

If your website lacks a little... je ne sais quois, it either needs something special, or that thing was lost in translation. If your managing different languages with Google's Website Translator plugin, however, then a new feature could put a stop to odd or inaccurate interpretations of your text. It's only in beta at the moment, but if you add a customization meta tag to a webpage, readers who know better can click on badly translated text and amend it (pending your approval). Likewise, you can fix up any broken translations yourself, and folk will see that version when using Chrome, or Google Toolbar to switch languages. Likewise, it looks like the official translate app for Android got a little spit and polish too, plus Esperanto support and new text to speech languages, so at least you can look a little more stylish while you order unknown items from the menu. Travel on over to the source links for the Rosetta stone.

Google updates translate plugin and Android app, unites nations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 May 2012 05:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web, Phandroid  |  sourceGoogle Translate Blog, Google Translate (Play store)  | Email this | Comments

Google Translate now serving over 200 million people per month

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Google Translate now serving over 200 million people per month

This may surprise you, but as Google keeps adding languages to its translation service's repertoire, the number of folks using it continues to increase accordingly. Google Translate's about to celebrate its 6th anniversary of machine translation, and now boasts over 200 million users each month -- with 92 percent of those folks coming from outside the US. Keep up the good work fellas, and as long as you expand Translate's beatboxing abilities, we're sure the online interpreter will be serving 300 million folks monthly in no time.

Google Translate now serving over 200 million people per month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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