IRISH SPEAKERS can now translate web pages and view internet content “as Gaeilge” following a move by Google to expand its online language translation programme.
Google Translate can convert web pages or text into Irish and allows the search of online content in 51 languages using Irish keywords. Nine languages were added to the application yesterday.
Google’s director of product management Tom Stocky said the internet was about “enabling access to the world’s information – all of the world’s information – in all of its languages”.
“Today’s launch of Google Translate in nine new languages makes it easier to access web content from all over the web, even when it is written in a language that is not your own,” he said.
For example, an Irish-speaking internet user who is planning an African safari can translate search results about safari tour companies into Irish in “a fraction of a second”, he said.
Users can also paste text or a webpage address in any of 51 supported languages and receive a translation in Irish immediately.
Google spokesman Simon Morrison conceded there would be teething problems as the system may not accurately pick up certain phrases and words, and it may misinterpret colloquialisms.
However, he said users should get in touch with the company to help improve the translations. “The main stumbling block would be colloquialisms. There are lots of ways in which people speak,” Mr Morrison said. “It’s not really meant to let you read novels in other languages, it won’t be able to do that, but it will allow you to read webpages for information.”
The service is now available at www.translate.google.com.