01/07/2024
FSG
On 27 June, Google announced on its website that they had added 110 languages, “our largest expansion ever" and among them is Romani, the language of the Roma people.
This is of great importance for the promotion of Roma culture in different languages and the normalisation of the Roma language on a platform of the global dimensions of Google.
In an initial test, we detected some errors in the translation of commonly used words, but we hope that these will be corrected. Google Translate users can send comments when they detect an error.
On the other hand, Google's own page warns of the following:
“Languages have an immense amount of variation: regional varieties, dialects, different spelling standards. In fact, many languages have no one standard form, so it’s impossible to pick a “right” variety. Our approach has been to prioritize the most commonly used varieties of each language. For example, Romani is a language that has many dialects all throughout Europe. Our models produce text that is closest to Southern Vlax Romani, a commonly used variety online. But it also mixes in elements from others, like Northern Vlax and Balkan Romani.”
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