Tongue tied

Software giant Google on Friday released Khmer-language support for its web-based translation service Google Translate.

The 66th language to be supported, Khmer joins 11 other languages still in the “alpha stage” of development – including languages like Azerbaijani and Urdu.

While Google said user-statistics for the feature were not immediately available, its product manager, Divon Lan, said he was confident the feature would be widely used by both Cambodians wishing to read a pre-dominantly English-language internet and foreigners hoping to understand Khmer-language content.

He added that while there might be errors in translation as the feature is still in a nascent alpha version, translations have reached a level of maturity where readers can “get the gist of the text”.

“Over time, as more people use the tool and provide suggestions to the system, the [quality] will improve,” said Lan.