Google Translate is rolling out a major upgrade that promises more human-like language translations.
Google is bullish on its Neural Machine Translation technology, claiming that it’s a bigger upgrade to the service than everything that’s been accomplished in the last 10 years combined.
The company is rolling out the improvements to eight language pairs in Google search, the Translate apps, and the website. You’ll find the new technology behind translations between English and French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Turkish. Google says that makes up more than 35% of all language queries.
Google Translate product lead Barak Turovsky said the new system looks at entire sentences instead of just translating one word at a time. Often times words don’t have a direct translation from one language to another, so this new approach gives a result that’s more akin to how humans actually communicate.
“Since it’s easier to understand each sentence, translated paragraphs and articles are a lot smoother and easier to read,” Turovsky said. “And this is all possible because of end-to-end learning system built on Neural Machine Translation, which basically means that the system learns over time to create better, more natural translations.”
Google’s cloud intelligence isn’t just for the company’s consumer services. It’s a major component of its enterprise effort by infusing machine learning into G Suite and other services.
To check this out, you can head to Google Translate online or download the latest app for Android and iOS.
A better understanding of human language is a critical lane in the race to build smarter artificial intelligence. Microsoft has also invested heavily in this area, most notably with Cortana and its purchase of SwiftKey.
Google Earth comes to VR
In other Google news, Google Earth VR has been released on Steam specifically for the HTC Vive. “Ten years ago, Google Earth began as an effort to help people everywhere explore our planet. And now, with more than 2 billion downloads, many have,” said a statement. “Today, we are introducing Google Earth VR as our next step to help the world see the world. With Earth VR, you can fly over a city, stand at the top of the highest peaks, and even soar into space.”
Google Earth is now available as an app for the HTC Vive
Earth VR seems to work best with large, well-known landmarks (natural and man-made) since that’s where Google put in the most work with the original program– Manhattan, Florence, the Eiffel Tower, the Matterhorn, and the Grand Canyon are specifically called out on Steam, among others.
The only disappointment at the moment is that Google Street View isn’t included. Given that Street View uses 3D panoramic photos, VR seems like a natural fit. Hopefully one day it’s added in.
For now though, Earth VR cements Google as one of the Vive’s top developers, with both this and Tilt Brush being must-see experiences. And better yet, Earth VR is free.
IDG News Service
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