Aims to fill the gap in end-to-end language support for Assamese in India New Delhi: Microsoft India has announced the addition o...
Aims to fill the gap in
end-to-end language support for Assamese in India
New Delhi: Microsoft
India has announced the addition of Assamese as the latest Indian language in
Microsoft Translator. The Azure-based service will now provide real-time translation
and transliteration support for the language. Powered by Azure
Cognitive Service Speech, users will also be able to
translate speech into Assamese text or to translate Assamese text into another
language with speech output.
Microsoft is currently the only cloud service provider
to support Assamese translation. Strengthening its position in democratizing
the access of information in the native languages, Microsoft has taken the lead
in providing end-to-end communication support for Assamese overcoming the
complexities in Machine Learning models used to develop the communication
functionalities. With this latest addition, Microsoft now supports 12 Indian languages
viz., Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi,
Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
Assamese –besides being the official language of the
state of Assam - is spoken by more than 14 million people across India’s north
eastern states. With its inclusion, Microsoft Translator will now allow over
90% of Indians to access information and work in their native/preferred
languages, making computing language-agnostic and more inclusive in the
country.Itcan help general users interpret real-time conversations, menus and
street signs, websites, and documents. Companies can leverage it to globalize
their business and strengthen customer outreach. Microsoft Translator can be
availed across Windows, iOS, Android, and the web.
Sundar Srinivasan - General Manager - AI & Search – Microsoft India, said, “At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization to achieve more. Microsoft has a responsible approach to AI, a key principle of which is inclusiveness. Breaking language barriers is a key step in enabling inclusion of more people and organizations to utilize technology to achieve more. As part of our mission to remove language barriers, particularly in India, we are happy to announce the release of translation for Assamese to add to the set of 11 Indian languages already supported”.
Bringing Deep Neural Networks to language
translation
Microsoft has been using Deep Neural Networks to
develop language models for translating and transliterating complex Indian
languages. Deep Neural Networks caneven manage minute language nuances like
gender (feminine, masculine, neutral), politeness level (slang, casual,
written, formal), and type of words (verb, noun, adjective). Microsoft
continuously improves the translation models in line with tech advancement and
usage, and releases newer and improved versions to all its users in a
transparent manner. You can learn more about Microsoft Translator here.
Microsoft and Local Language computing: Since the launch
of Project Bhasha in 1998, Microsoft
has been pioneering local language computing in Indian languages for over two
decades. This has enabled users to input localized text easily and quickly
using the Indian Language Input tool. Microsoft also supports email
addresses in multiple Indian languages across most of its email apps and
services. Through its global Local
Language Program (LLP),
Microsoft provides people access to technology in their native language.
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