Q 1
What is Unicode?
At the basic level Computers deal with numbers. Every alphabet, number or symbol is converted into a corresponding binary number and then processed. However while using different languages, different scripts were used, which was a cause of great confusion. The same code corresponds to different symbols in different languages. This meant that software or documents developed in one country could not be used in another.
The development of Unicode, or the Universal Alphabet was a solution to this problem. Unicode or UTF-8 is a set of over a million characters covering the majority of writing scripts from across the world. Systems are developed which use Unicode and these systems have the ability to read and process data from many languages.
Unicode is supported by all the latest browsers, so web pages made in different languages could be easily displayed without any compatibility issues.
Q 2
What is transliteration?
Translation consists of representing the words of one language with the script used by another language. Transliteration keeps the pronunciation the same no matter what language is used. Transliteration Software is designed to type in one language (e.g. English) and the computer will convert it into another language. (eg Marathi)
Transliteration is different from translation. Translation retains the meaning of the words across different languages, while Transliteration only retains the sounds of the words.
Q 3
Explain Google translate in detail.
Google Translate is a free service from Google which automatically translates from one language to another. This translation is done automatically using Natural Language Processing. (NLP)
Today Google provides translation in 80 languages worldwide. It also provides translation for 9 Indian Languages including, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi, Urdu, and Telugu.
Google translate works completely automatically by detecting patterns in other documents which have been translated by human beings. It uses these patterns to translate the document and its accuracy therefore depends upon how many documents that were previously translated by humans, are available.
Some translations are more accurate than others. Generally translations between English and most Western European languages have a high degree of accuracy whereas translations between languages such as Chinese and others using the Cyrillic script and not as accurate.
The Google translate service also includes a Text-to-speech converter which helps in improving the accuracy as well as allows the user to learn to speak the language.
Google translate is also available on Android based devices such as mobile phones and tablets.
