Google Translate Learns Inuktut
For years, Google Translate has helped break down language barriers and connect communities all over the world. Recent technological advances, including leveraging the power of our PaLM 2 large language model, have helped us improve translation quality and expand Google Translate to hundreds of new languages. We’re thrilled to announce that Inuktut, the language spoken by over 39,000 Inuit in Canada, is now available - making it the first Canadian Indigenous language on the platform.
Inuktut is an exceedingly complex language to translate well and we are grateful to the many first-language speakers of Inuktut and other experts who helped us to make sure we got it right.
In particular, we want to thank Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), who advised us about translation quality as well as the script used to write the language. Inuktut uses two primary writing systems – qaniujaaqpait (syllabics) and qaliujaaqpait, which uses the Roman alphabet. ITK collaborated with the Google team to develop a tool based on the Inuktut Qaliujaaqpait Converter, to ensure that our services could be offered in both writing systems. Their thoughtful feedback and collaboration on this initiative was indispensable and we hope that this tool can help them in their mission to empower Inuit communities and help Inuktut thrive.
Translation models are imperfect and this tool will still make many mistakes, but bringing Inuktut in its written forms onto Google Translate is a milestone worth celebrating. And as we get more feedback and technology advances, we look forward to continuing to collaborate with expert linguists, first-language Inuktut speakers, and Inuit leaders to improve the translation quality and expand the capability to new surfaces.
“As the national representational organization for Inuit in Canada, we strive to revitalize, protect and promote Inuktut. We welcome Google's work to include Inuktut in its roster of languages on Google Translate. The addition of Inuktut on such a widely used platform empowers Inuit to interact more fully in the digital world.”
Natan Obed, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
To learn more about the Inuktut language and the work that ITK has been leading to preserve it for generations to come, visit their Inuktut Qaliujaaqpait webpage.
