Making a translation from another language to Fon or from Fon to others is now possible on Google. Fon or Fongbé is now available on Google Translate. In other words, it is possible to make translations from Fongbé to other languages and vice versa directly from Google Translate.. Fongbé is one of the 110 new languages that Google has integrated into its translation service. Among these 110 newly integrated languages, there are 31 languages spoken in various African countries.
In Benin, the news about the integration of Fon with Google Translate is causing a lot of excitement and reactions on social networks. Posts on the subject are popping up everywhere.
In a post on his Facebook page, Friday June 28, 2024, Fabroni Bill Yockounon, one of the designers of IamYourClounon, a platform for popularizing and promoting Beninese languages on the internet and social media, said he was happy. The young Beninese speaks of “good news”. An announcement which “comes to crown the numerous works of IamYourclounon, which in recent years have experienced contaminating progress”.
Although happy, the young designer is aware that challenges remain. “It’s time to move on to the next stage! We have the means. The fight is not over, it is now institutional,” he said.
On his account X Bonaventure Dossou also reacted to the announcement of the news. He is one of the initiators of the FFR software, a computer program capable of deciphering and translating Western languages into local Beninese languages. “I landed in paradise. When I started my research, it was because I couldn’t communicate with my mother,” said Bonaventure Dossou in English on his X account. “4 years later, my contributions made this possible,” he said. he adds.
Fon is spoken by a significant part of the Beninese population, mainly in the south of the country, notably in the towns of Cotonou, Abomey-Calavi, Abomey, Bohicon, Ouidah. This language is not only used in Benin. It is also used in certain localities of Nigeria and Togo.
Other languages also added by Google
Google recently explained in a blog post that the 110 new languages added “represent more than 614 million speakers and will enable approximately 8% of the world’s population to perform translations.”
The 31 African languages added are spoken in every corner of the continent. There is the Fon of Benin, the Wolof of Senegal, the Afar for Ethiopia, the Baoulé of the Ivorians, the Bemba spoken in Zambia, the Luo of Tanzania, the Nko of Mali, the Soso spoken in Sierra Leone, the Swati spoken in Eswatini, the Rundi representing Burundi, the Tiv of Nigeria, the Tumbuka of Malawians and the Ga of Ghana,
Acholi and Kiga (Uganda), Alur, Kikongo and Kituba (DR Congo), Ndau and Dombé (Zimbabwe), Nuer and Dinka (South Sudan), Ndebele and Tswana (South Africa), Creole (Mauritius, Seychelles), as well as 2 versions of Tamazight from North Africa are also among the languages added.
Kanuri and Fulani, widely spoken in West Africa, including Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, Nigeria, complete the list. “Thanks to our partnerships with specialist linguists and native speakers, we continue to make great progress,” assured Google.
Through this batch of additions of new African languages, the American giant allows Google Translate to remove some language barriers for millions of users. This work also makes it possible to make audiovisual content accessible to certain populations through subtitling. The press will also take advantage of this to provide these readers with content in local African languages.
The last time Google added African languages to its translation app database was in 2022. The languages that were added were Ghanaian Twi, Togolese Ewe, Malian Bambara, and Congolese Lingala.
