Friday, November 5, 2010 | 8:33 PM
In Zulu In Afrikaans Here’s a test for the Zulu speakers out there: which is faster... saying “isolezwe iphephandaba” or typing the same query character-by-character? And for Afrikaans speakers, how about “tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein”?
We are excited about the development of languages for Africa. The launch of Zulu is our first effort in building Voice Search for under-represented languages. These languages are spoken by millions, but have little presence in electronic and physical media. They have received little attention from the speech research community, and we had to ‘start from scratch’ in developing them. One of the challenges that we faced was the paucity of content on the web in Zulu in comparison to other languages that we developed. As a result, our Voice Search in Zulu is “work in progress”. Improvement will come from content creation efforts in Zulu and from the use of Voice Search by Zulu speakers.
How you get started with Google Voice Search depends on what kind of phone you have. If your phone runs Android 2.1 or later, and you have the Quick Search Box installed, all you have to do is tap the microphone icon to start a voice-powered search. If you don’t have the Voice Search application, you can install it from Android Market on your phone - search for ‘voice search‘. Once you install the application be sure to go to settings and choose the language that you wish to use. To get Google Mobile App for iPhone, search for ‘Google Mobile App’ in the App Store or follow this link. iPhone users who already have Google Mobile App installed can enable voice search by selecting the new languages from the settings panel within the app.
Posted by Amir Mané, Product Manager, Google Speech Technologies ==== LA RECHERCHE VOCALE ARRIVE EN AFRIQUE DU SUD
Pour en savoir plus, consultez le site http://mobile.google.com et sélectionnez votre pays dans le bas de la page. Poste par Amir Mané, Product Manager, Google Speech Technologies
==== UKUCINGA NGEZWI KUFIKILE ENINGIZIMU AFRIKA
Sinenjabulo enkulu ngokuthuthukisela i-Afrika izilimi zayo. Ukwethula Ukucinga Ngezwi ngesiZulu isinyathelo sokuqala ekwakheni lolu hlelo ngezilimi ezincishwe amathuba. Lezi zilimi zikhulunywa yizigidi zabantu, kodwa zinendima encane kwezokusakaza okuphathekayo kanye nokwe-elektronik. Zishaywa indiva ngumphakathi ocwaninga ngokwenkulumo, ‘sikususe phansi’ ukuthuthukisa lezi zilimi. Enye yezinselelo esabhekana nazo kwaba ngukwentuleka kokuqukethwe ngesiZulu kuwebhu uma kuqhathaniswa nezinye izilimi esisungule lolu hlelo ngazo. Ngalokho ke, Ukucinga Ngezwi esiZulwini “ngumsebenzi oqhubekayo”. Intuthuko izosukela emizamweni yokwakha okuqukethwe esiZulwini kanye nasekusetshenzisweni Kokucinga Ngezwi yilabo abakhuluma IsiZulu.
Ukuqala Ngokucinga Ngezwi ku-Google kulele enhlobeni yefoni yakho. Uma ifoni yakho isebenzisa i-Android 2.1 noma entsha, futhi uma ufake Ibhokisi Lokusesha Ngokushesha lakwaGoogle, okudingeka ukwenze ukuthinta uphawu lwemakhrofoni ukuqala ukucinga ngezwi. Uma ungenalo uhlelo lokusebenza Ukucinga Ngezwi, ungalifaka eMakethe ye-Android efonini yakho - cinga ‘ukucinga ngezwi’. Uma usulifakile uhlelo lokusebenza qinisekisa ukuthi uya kuzilungiselelo ukhethe ulimi ofisa ukulisebenzisa. Ukuthola Uhlelo Lokusebenza Lwamaselula ku-Google ku-iPhone, cinga ‘Uhlelo Lokusebenza Lwamaselula ku-Google’ Esitolo Sezinhlelo Zokusebenza noma ulandele leli xhumo. Abasebenzisi be-iPhone asebelufakile Uhlelo Lokusebenza Lwamaselula ku-Google bangavumela ukucinga ngezwi ngokukhetha izilimi ezintsha kwiphaneli yezilungiselelo ngaphakathi kohlelo lokusebenza. Funda kabanzi ku-http://mobile.google.com ukhethe izwe lakho ngezansi.
==== STEMSOEK MAAK SY OPWAGTING IN SUID-AFRIKA