Latest news with #languagebarrier
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
India: How to get AI to work in its 22 languages
Vineet Sawant has spent the last two years navigating the streets of Mumbai on a scooter as a delivery driver."Being on the road is always very stressful and especially in cities like Mumbai," he when he started out language barriers were an additional problem. His first language is Marathi and Mr Sawant speaks "very little" English. "I can understand but it's very difficult to read," he caused problems at his new said: "At first, it was difficult. Everything was in English, and I can understand some of it, but I'm more comfortable in Marathi. I used to ask other delivery guys to help me figure out what to do."His employer, Zepto, promises "India's Fastest Online Grocery Delivery". So having drivers struggling with delivery instructions was not smooth this process a year ago, Zepto partnered with Reverie Language Technologies to introduce an AI translation service for its drivers. Since then its delivery drivers have been able to choose between six languages on the Zepto app."I don't have to guess anymore," says Mr Sawant. "Earlier I would take more time to read and sometimes even made mistakes. Now if the customer writes 'ring bell', I get that instruction in Marathi. So, I don't have to ask or check again. It's all clear." Mr Sawant's difficulties are common."India has 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects," says Professor Pushpak Bhattacharyya, from IIT Mumbai, one of India's leading experts in the use of AI in Indian languages."Without tech, that understands and speaks these languages, millions are excluded from the digital revolution - especially in education, governance, healthcare, and banking," he points rollout of new generative AI systems, like ChatGPT, has made the task more amounts of data, like web pages, books or video transcripts are used to train an AI. In widely spoken languages like Hindi and English that is relatively easy to get, but for others it is more difficult."The main challenge to create Indian language models is the availability of data. I'm talking about refined data. Coarse quality data, is available. But that data is not of very high quality, it needs filtering," says Professor Bhattacharyya."The issue in India is for many Indian languages, especially tribal and regional dialects, this data simply doesn't exist or is not digitised." Reverie Language Technologies is now deploying its AI-driven translation technology for a range of Indian companies. Co-founder Vivekananda Pani says that while translation technology will make communication easier, there is "potential for less common dialects to be pushed aside"."The challenge will be to make sure that the amazing benefits of AI-driven language advancements don't accidentally shrink the rich variety of human language." To help tackle the problem Professor Bhattacharyya has contributed to Bhashini, a government project to develop those high quality datasets needed to train an AI. As well as the datasets, Bhashini has built AI language models and translation services in 22 languages. Started in 2022, it's a huge undertaking, but has already made a lot of currently hosts 350 AI-based language models that have processed more than a billion than 50 government departments work with Bhashini, as well as 25 state example Bhashini tech is used in multi-lingual chatbots for public services and to translate government schemes into local languages."Bhashini ensures India's linguistic and cultural representation by building India-specific AI models rather than relying on global platforms," says Amitabh Nag, CEO of Digital India, Bhashini hopes that within the next two or three years rural users will have voice-enabled access to government services, financial tools and information systems in their native languages. These India-focused datasets will hopefully one day give people developing AI-based models the tools to make it much easier to adapt them for the entire designing any AI programme to deal with complex processes such as healthcare can be extremely Jadhav, an associate professor at the Koita Centre for Digital Health at IIT Mumbai, is working on an AI programme which would help people quit explains that people at different stages of the process need different advice and they usually need a well-trained human to make that assessment. But there are a limited number of practitioners who can help, particularly those that can operate in multiple languages, so Professor Jadhav is hoping his AI model can bridge the gap. The AI "will first identify the kind of conversation the person needs and accordingly will frame questions, show empathy, emotions," says Professor all that, hopefully, will eventually be done in 22 languages. Initial experiments are underway in English and Hindi. "It will be very customized, it will not be something just off the shelf," he says. Back on the streets of the city, Vineet Sawant has increased the number of parcels he delivers from ten to around 30 a day, helped in part by the translation function in the delivery thinks it will help more people like him."It makes us feel like we belong. Not everyone understands English. When the app speaks our language, we feel more confident, and we work better."
The Sun
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I fell in love with a Turkish security guard on hols – we married 4 weeks later but can only talk on Google translate
STARING into her hunky new husband's eyes, Natalie Badura doesn't bat an eyelid as he reaches for his phone. She smiles and waits patiently for him to finish tapping out his message - after all it's the only way they can communicate. 7 7 They might be married but 'I do' seems to be the only words they have managed to exchange with the couple relying entirely on Google Translate to converse. Natalie, 34, fell for security guard Muhammet Çelik, 26, when she met him at a cocktail bar abroad and despite the language barrier the pair married just four weeks later. After weeks of communicating via the language app, the couple quickly realised their connection was real but time wasn't on their side. Natalie's visa was about to expire and neither of them wanted to face the prospect of being apart. They explored every possible option to keep her in Turkey legally, from applying for visa extensions to checking different permits, but nothing seemed to work out fast enough. With the clock ticking, they made the bold choice to get married – the pair officially becoming man and wife in a simple £75 ceremony earlier this year. 'Looking back, it all feels like a whirlwind – crazy and magical all at once,' Natalie, who is originally from Seattle, says. 'We had no idea how it would work out, but sometimes love just doesn't wait for perfect timing or perfect plans. 'It was a leap of faith, and I'm so glad we took it. There are no regrets, just happiness.' Natalie had lived in Spain for three months before meeting her now-husband on December 1, 2024. Wanting a fresh start somewhere new, she initially decided to move to Valencia after her lease ended back in the States. But problems with her documents meant she had to leave the country while sorting them out. So she decided to spend a few weeks in Turkey – where she met Muhammet on a night out in Bodrum that she'll never forget. She explains: 'We went to this cocktail bar because we wanted to hear a DJ and have some good drinks. 'I was with two guy friends and Muhammet was working as security. 'At first, he was too shy to talk to me because he didn't really speak English, and I didn't speak Turkish. 'One of my friends went outside to smoke and that's when Muhammet started chatting with him, trying to figure out how to get my Instagram without talking to me directly. 'The next morning, I woke up to a message from him on Instagram asking, 'Where did you go?' 7 7 7 'I didn't see it until much later and when I finally replied, we started chatting back and forth.' The pair eventually met up in person, and using Google Translate, they quickly formed a strong bond. She said: 'I could feel something special straight away. 'Even though we barely spoke, there was this amazing energy between us. We were laughing so much, just passing the phone back and forth to translate. 'It was honestly like something out of a movie.' The couple researched every possible visa extension and legal route to keep Natalie in Turkey, desperate to avoid the heartbreak of separation. Then Muhammet made a bold move. Natalie said: 'He just looked at me and said, 'I will marry you. I want you to stay here with me.' I thought, 'Wait, what? We've only known each other a month!' 'But I knew I felt the same. 'It was crazy but it just felt right. 'Usually I'm the kind of person who needs my space, I don't like being around someone 24/7. 'But with him, it is different. Quickie Celeb Marriages That Failed Lukas Gage and Chris Appleton: Kim Kardashian's go-to makeup artist got hitched just two months into dating the actor. Seven months later, the couple filed for divorce in November 2023. Amy Schumer and Chris Fischer: the american comedian actress and celebrity chef tied the knot confirmed their relationship in February 2018 and were married within days. But just a few years later the couple, who share a child, seperated. Chloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom: The reality TV star and former basketball player married within a month of dating. Four years later their relationship came crashing down and ended in divorce. Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee: Potentially the quickest relationship ever, the pair met just four days before walking down the aisle. The Hollywood star's up-and-down relationship with the musician ended just a year later. Drew Barrymore and Jeremy Thomas: The Hollywood actress said 'Ido' on a night out just six weeks after dating Jeremy. Once hitched, the couple broke up a month later. 'I feel comfortable, like I've known him forever.' Natalie had to fly to Ankara to get the necessary documents, including proving she wasn't already married. The pair tied the knot at a court house the day before Natalie's visa expired on January 15, 2025. She says: 'It was stressful but we didn't give up. 'I was determined to make it work. 'When we finally went to the municipality with all our documents, the lady was shocked we'd done it all in two weeks. 'We signed the papers in a room with two judges, then went to a café with friends. 'We had a mini cake, Turkish tea and lots of laughs. 'I wore a white buttoned shirt and some dress pants – we weren't spending a fortune, it was about love, not the money.' When Natalie told friends and family about marrying someone she'd only known for a month, she was met with plenty of surprise – but also a lot of support. She says: 'Everyone was shocked at first but they were really happy for me. 'My closest friends were all super encouraging and my mum told me, 'As long as he treats you well and it's what you want, I'll support you.' 'It's my life and my happiness. 'I'm not here to follow anyone else's timeline or expectations. 'Sometimes you have to trust your gut and take that leap, no matter what anyone else thinks.' Now happily married and living together in Bodrum, Natalie and Muhammet are building a life full of adventure. The pair are trying to grow their TikTok account and the security guard is even trying to break into the modelling industry. Natalie now says taking the risk was the best decision she ever made. She added: 'Sometimes life surprises you in the best way when you least expect it. 'I married my holiday crush after just one month and I couldn't be happier.' 7
South China Morning Post
18-07-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
‘I felt lost': mainland Chinese talent children on their struggles to settle in Hong Kong
Twelve-year-old Sofia Teng Yiru was always among the top three in class at her hometown in Wuhan in mainland China before she moved to Hong Kong in March last year. She came with her father, Aaron Teng, 42, who had succeeded in applying for the city's top talent admission scheme and started his own company in online advertising. Previously at an international school where lessons were taught in English and Mandarin, Sofia was admitted to Primary Five at Kowloon Women's Welfare Club Li Ping Memorial School in Yau Ma Tei. She returned home dejected and in tears every day for a month. She could not understand anything in class, as all lessons except English were taught in Cantonese. 'I felt pretty lost,' she recalled. Sofia is among thousands of mainland Chinese children who have arrived in Hong Kong since the government introduced a major scheme to attract top talent in December 2022. Almost three years on, parents, school principals and a support group for arriving talent told the Post these families needed more help, and the language barrier was only one challenge mainland children faced as they settled into life in Hong Kong.
South China Morning Post
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Malaysian sisters marry foreigners, communicate with hand gestures, spark online hilarity
Three Malaysian sisters have caused online hilarity after they married men from different countries, forcing their family to break the language barriers by using gestures and facial expressions. Advertisement The women's father, Razali Yusof, 85, from Perak in northwestern Malaysia, says they married men from Britain, Egypt and Pakistan, according to local media outlet Harian Metro. Razali said that neither he nor his wife speaks English, and none of his sons-in-law speak Malay. The trio of husbands from Britain, Pakistan and Egypt with their Malaysian wives. Photo: handout This means the family has to rely on hand gestures and facial expressions to communicate. Razali described their conversations as being like 'chickens talking to ducks', a local idiom for mutual incomprehension. He said that after years of living together, they have built a strong mutual understanding and no longer need to use full sentences to communicate. Advertisement Briton Robin Kennedy, 53, was drawn to Azura, the eldest of Razali's daughters, because of her gentle and cheerful nature.
National Post
30-06-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Jamie Sarkonak: Canadians right to favour melting pot model of assimilation
Article content The quality simply couldn't be maintained with volume. A liberal approach to student visas — which quadrupled the number of permitholders from 2011 to 2024, placed them at 2.5 per cent of the population last year. Fraud ensued. Last fall, Statistics Canada found that one-fifth of international students weren't actually studying. Students too poor to afford a life here were scammed, strip-mall diploma mills grew, and the credentialed newcomers they churned out — noticed by their Canadian counterparts to be increasingly incapable of reading and writing in English — continued on their quest to receive citizenship. Article content Indeed, language barriers (the non-English and non-French kind) are increasingly presenting themselves to doctors, health-care staff and police. Some provincial governments get around this obstacle by releasing information in numerous foreign languages. Even the private sector is jumping on board; stand in line at a TD Bank and you'll be treated with a slew of ads clearly targeted at new arrivals. Article content Article content Canadian jobseekers, meanwhile, have noticed a rise in ads seeking Punjabi speakers (and in Vancouver, Mandarin). These preferences come at a time when the employment prospects of Canadian youth, who once easily filled many entry-level jobs, have steeply fallen to a jobless rate of 13.4 per cent. It's a source of frustration for both Canadian-born English-only speakers and their immigrant non-Punjabi counterparts. Article content Many newcomers are still happy to assimilate, but not all — and as the total number of new arrivals grows, so too does the number of those who barricade themselves in enclaves and hold on to old, sometimes un-Canadian values. Edmonton and Calgary police both had to defuse Eritrean riots in 2023; a Montreal elementary school had to suspend 11 Muslim teachers amid allegations of creating a toxic, sometimes violent environment; anti-Israel protests have become a regular feature of Toronto and Montreal, correlating with high immigration in the last decade from Muslim countries. Article content Making matters worse is a national attitude that sends the message to newcomers that Canada is racist, hateful of its Indigenous people and has a history in strong need of being painted over. Article content All of this, Canadian officials will probably say, is a good thing. 'Diversity is our strength' is a phrase that has been uttered in Parliament 135 times; government documents often tout the Canadian mosaic model of multiculturalism. But regular Canadians, for the most part, never wanted this: in 1993, Angus Reid found that 57 per cent of the nation wanted minorities to 'be more like most Canadians'; in 2016, 68 per cent were found to believe that 'minorities should do more to fit in better.' There's a common-sense understanding, which could be acknowledged more openly in the early 2000s, that diversity can also offer challenges to overcome. Article content
