Google Integrates Transliteration To Gmail; ‘Big Step For Google In India’
-
Comments (View)
- Text Size: A A
-
Email
-
Share
Gmail users in India this morning logged in to find a small but potentially far reaching addition to their familiar gmail toolbar. An Indian language transliteration tool that supports five Indian languages—Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu. I had tried out the transliteration tool in Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Labs earlier and was pleased to see I could now switch to my native language—Malayalam—from within gmail when the situation demanded it.
We did a quick Q&A with Rahul Roy Chowdhury, product manager for Google India, to understand the strategy and to know where Indian languages figured in Google’s scheme of things in India. Edited excerpts:
Tell us what other products now have Indian language transliteration and what new products will get this feature in the future?
We have already introduced it in search, iGoogle, Labs, Orkut and Blogger. As a matter of policy we can’t talk about what products will get this tool in the future, but will suffice to say that we are committed to widening its coverage as much as possible. Today we integrated it into gmail. The rollout is into all gmail accounts, but it appears by default for an Indian user, while others have to go to settings and choose the option.
What is the kind of feedback you got from users when you introduced it in Google Labs?
We got phenomenal feedback. A lot of people were using it and were always asking us when it will be integrated into our other products. We found that many people were using it as a cut and paste tool—so they would type into the transliteration interface and then paste it in MS Word or Gmail or wherever. Now they can do it from within Gmail.
How does today’s development fit into google’s larger strategy in terms of Indian language content?
Our strategy is three-pronged. We want there to be more content in Indian languages, we want to enable people to discover Indian language content—hence our focus on search; and we want to enable people to communicate in their own languages. I would wager that nearly every Gmail user in India speaks at least one other language apart from English. Today’s integration fits into the communication part of this strategy. It’s a big step for Google in India.
We are very clear that we need more content in Indian languages to attract more users on to the Internet. When we introduced search in Hindi, we realized that it was very difficult for people to type in Indian languages. That’s how we decided to invest in the transliteration tool and we first floated it on Google Labs because we didn’t know how it would be received. As it turned out, people loved it.
When you introduced the tool on Blogger, did you see many bloggers using the tool and generating Indian language content?
Everytime we integrate it into a new product, we always see more Indian language content getting created. It has definitely helped many bloggers to very easily run language blogs. I would say it’s all part of a larger, evolving eco system. Blogs in Indian languages have been there. But now, if you saw a Malayalam blog and you are inspired to start one yourself, you can do it very easily on Blogger. We opened up the transliteration API (application programming interface) for others to use and many bloggers have introduced transliteration in their comments field. Sulekha.com has used our transliteration programme on their blogging platform.
While you support search in nine languages, transliteration is available only in the four south Indian languages apart from Hindi. Any particular reason for it?
There are more speakers of these languages online, and hence there is greater demand. We are committed to increasing the number of languages we support and I’m sure we will roll out in more languages soon.
When do we see transliteration on Gtalk?
As i said, we can’t comment on future roll outs.
Posted In:
Last.fm Songs
Social Standing
Which media brands are getting a lift from Tweeters and bloggers right now -- and which are getting panned?
Show Me: