Google has added Icelandic to its list of languages in use by its Google Voice Search engine.
Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
Icelandic was among 13 languages that the company recently added to its search engine; Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, European Portuguese, Finnish, Galician, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, and Swedish.
Google researcher Trausti Kristjánsson says that over 120,000 voice samples from 563 individuals were used to complete the project, mbl.is reports.
According to Trausti, the technology has many advantages. “Naturally, people no longer need to use a keyboard. It’s convenient for the blind and visually impaired. The goal is however to make the technology easier to use in cars, to send text messages and set alarms,” he commented.
Reykjavík University and the Icelandic Centre for Language Technology assisted with the project.
Click here to view a demo of Google Voice Search using Icelandic words like “Eyjafjallajökull.”
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