20 May 2010

Google Translate in Punjabi

It seems my little vacation has been cut short by events.  Two new posts today.  Both good news.

First, I have been looking for a way to translate this blog into Punjabi for nearly four years.  Now there might be a way.  It's a long shot, but then my being here typing this is statistically impossible and here I am.

Google has a really cool service called "Google Translate" which translates web pages from one language to another very quickly.  So now when I get a Spanish or German or even Chinese.  But not Punjabi.  This must be corrected!

There is currently a petition to get Punjabi covered by Google Translate.  Google has a reputation of listening to its users. It is totally nonpolitical.  All it says is:  

We would like 'Google Translate' to create a language Punjabi. All the signatures, are willing to use this feature, if created. 

Please sign it at:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/google-translate-in-punjabi/sign.html

6 comments:

  1. I have signed the petition. Being a Punjabi, it would be naturally very pleasing to me to see my language go global, even though I don't happen to be too fluent. Thanks for bringing it up!

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  2. Thanks for signing.

    I admit this is in my self-interest. I write this blog to be read and to inform and many of the people I would most like to reach aren't fluent in English.

    Plus, I would love to see translations of many sites in Punjabi. It is something to work toward.

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  3. Shalom from Israel!

    If you want Google to cover Punjabi, you can do more than simply petition them. To set up translation they need a large body of text which is available both in Punjabi and in another language they already understand (such as Hindi or Arabic or even English), so they can train their algorithm. You could help them look for such a body of text!

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  4. Why is the petition closed? Was it successful?

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  5. the bitter truth is that we Punjabis are literate illeterate. (Padhe likhe unpad). We do not like to read or write in Punjabi. The best a Punjabi person does is read the Newspaper once he finishes his studies. There is no on going interest in the 'literate' as there is none. How many Punjabi Magazines have you seen? To get Google Translate going we need to volunteer to the project. This means those that can read and write Punjabi, must volunteer their time - labor of love. However these Punjabis are out trying to impress with their English (one can say that this includes me), however I will volunteer my time towards this project.

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  6. Sanjay Singh jio, I think you are doing a huge sewa helping people see so that they can read if they choose. If you can also find time to work on a translation project, you might contact Google and see if such a project exists. That would be wonderful.

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