Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - October 17, 2024 - Google has added Inuktut, a widely spoken Indigenous language spoken in Canada, to its translation service, Google Translate.

The addition is part of Google's initiative to develop a single artificial intelligence language model to support 1,000 of the most spoken languages in the world.

With around 40,000 Inuktut speakers in Canada, the number of speakers alone is not enough to determine if a language can be included in Google Translate.

The company also looks at whether there is a desire or need from the community and how technically feasible it is.

After determining its model could recognize Inuktut, Google consulted with language speakers and organizations, including Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national organization representing about 70,000 Inuit in Canada.

The addition of Inuktut empowers Inuit to interact more fully in the digital world and aims to be more representative of a group often overlooked by the tech sector.

Users will be able to translate written Inuktut to English and vice versa through Google Translate.