Microsoft India announced 5th October 2023 the introduction of four new languages to Microsoft Translator: Bhojpuri, Bodo, Dogri, and Kashmiri. This new update will benefit nearly 61 million people, the company stated.
With this recent addition, Microsoft Translator now supports a total of 20 Indian languages, including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
This update moves Microsoft Translator closer to its ambition of supporting all 22 official Indian languages, covering the languages spoken by almost 95 per cent of the country's population.
Users can access the translation feature through the Microsoft Translator app, Edge browser, Office 365, Bing Translator, and the Azure AI Translator API for businesses and developers. Companies such as Jio Haptik and Koo already utilise it.
Rajiv Kumar, Managing Director, India Development Center, Microsoft India, remarked, "We believe technology should act as a bridge, empowering everyone to reach their full potential. We're delighted to introduce Bhojpuri, Bodo, Dogri, and Kashmiri to Microsoft Translator, advancing towards our objective of supporting 22 official Indian languages. We remain dedicated to endorsing India's diverse languages and culture by harnessing the most advanced AI technology to drive the nation's progress and make technological access more inclusive."
Bhojpuri is spoken by around 51 million people in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand. Bodo is the language for approximately 1.4 million people in Assam, Meghalaya, and neighbouring Bangladesh. Dogri is used by 1.6 million people in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab. Around 7 million people speak Kashmiri in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of adjacent Pakistan.
Swapan Rajdev, Co-founder & CTO, Jio Haptik, said, "While many software solutions support prevalent Indian languages, Azure's expansion into additional Indic languages is commendable! This is exciting for Haptik, offering our customers an opportunity to be more inclusive. They can now support languages like Bhojpuri, Bodo, Kashmiri, and Dogri, which is remarkable. We've noticed that Haptik's multilingual bots experience enhanced usage, underlining the importance of catering to users in their chosen language."
Koo has also seen positive developments, promoting inclusive communication and supporting the expansion of digital communities. Harsh Singhal, Head of Machine Learning at Koo, shared, "At Koo, our focus is on enhancing connectivity and empowering diverse communities in the digital sphere. Eighty per cent of the global population speaks a native language other than English, and Koo is devoted to offering these speakers a platform in their language.
Translation is vital for breaking language barriers. With Microsoft Azure, we've conducted millions of translations effortlessly across 60 languages, including 10 Indian languages, laying the groundwork for digital communities to thrive."
Microsoft employs Deep Neural Networks to create language models for translating and transliterating intricate Indian languages. These networks also discern subtle linguistic nuances, including gender distinctions (feminine, masculine, neutral), politeness levels (slang, casual, written, formal), and word types (verb, noun, adjective).
