Machine translation: an important step for our language

The Council for Ligurian Linguistic Heritage is happy to announce that Google has added the Ligurian language (in the Genoese variety) to its machine translation system, Google Translate. This represents a significant step for the promotion of our language and culture.

This addition is just the latest development in language technologies for our language, and it follows the pioneering work already carried out by Meta’s “No Language Left Behind” project in 2022, and the important research by members of our association, including the latest research paper published a few months ago. We are pleased to see that our continued efforts have helped create a solid foundation on which these technologies could be developed.

As a reminder, machine translation engines – like all language technologies – must be used with care and it is necessary to have all outputs reviewed by experienced linguists. Although the quality of Google’s machine translations for certain types of content is quite good, for others – for example, for texts in the colloquial register or for place names – there is still a long way to go. However, we remain convinced that these technologies will continue to improve and that they will become, more and more, a fundamental tool for the promotion of our language. In the meantime, our association continues to be available for any text editing or proofreading work, for which you may contact us at info@conseggio-ligure.org.