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Google Can Now Translate up to 100 Languages, Helping 99% Population Online

By Kanika Gupta | Update Date: Feb 25, 2016 08:47 AM EST

The new online translation tool by Google has reached a milestone today on its 10th anniversary. With the adding of 13 new languages, including Kurdish and Hawaiian, there are now over 100 languages supported by Google translate.

The service that was started by Google in April 2006 now covers 99% of the population that is online. The first time the idea for Google Translate came in 2004 when its co-founder, Sergey Brin, became exasperated after a translation program license by the company translated a Korean email into "The sliced raw fish shoes it wishes. Google green onion thing!"

However, the translate feature provided in Google uses a mix of machine learning and work of human volunteers to ensure that the translations are useful and not ridiculous, says Tech Crunch

In an announcement made by the company on Google Translate Blog, it said that for the company to add a language to their tool, it must be a written language with "a significant amount of translations in the new language" that are online already. This way, Google Translate will be able to apply the virtues of machine learning into texts. There are three million volunteers that work on this project, providing correct translations and make new word suggestions.

The new languages that are now added to the existing set of languages include Amharic, spoken in Ethiopia; Kyrgyz; Frisian, spoken in Netherlands and Germany; Kurdish; Samoan; Pashto, spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan; Shona, spoken in Zimbabwe; Sindhi, spoken in India and Pakistan; Xhosa spoken in South Africa; Luxembourgish; Hawaiian; Scots Gaelic and Corsican, as reported by Tech Crunch

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