Source
AI for everyone in every language
Google is leveraging AI to expand support for hundreds of underrepresented languages, moving beyond simple text translation to incorporate emotion, tone, and sign language.
Why it matters
This expansion enables billions of people who speak non-dominant languages or use sign language to access digital technology and be understood on their own terms.
The big picture
While previous coverage focused on the release of Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.5 Transcribe for developers, this article details their application in global language inclusion.
The details
Project Vaani has collected over 30,000 hours of speech across 109 Indian languages, while WAXAL covers 27 Sub-Saharan African languages. For users with feature phones, the AVA voice assistant brings Gemini capabilities to basic devices. Additionally, Google worked with Māori experts to improve place name pronunciation in Google Maps.
What's next
Google will continue working with local communities to build technology that helps more people communicate and participate.
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In this article
Products
Organizations
People
Key connections
Google owns Gemini 3.5 Live Translate
Gemini 3.5 Live Translate powers real-time spoken translation
Google owns Universal Speech Model
our Universal Speech Model — trained on 12 million hours of audio
Google owns Language Explorer
our new tool Language Explorer
Google owns TranslateGemma
we developed TranslateGemma, a family of lightweight open translation models
Google is a partner of Makerere University
Built with partners including Makerere University
Google is a partner of Digital Umuganda
Built with partners including... Digital Umuganda
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Google is a partner of Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
In partnership with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Google is a partner of Bhashini
In partnership with... Bhashini
including Brazil’s UFMG
Google is a partner of IIT Kharagpur
India’s IIT Kharagpur
Google.org funds Centre for Digital Language Inclusion
Google.org-supported efforts, including the Centre for Digital Language Inclusion
Google.org funds AI Singapore
Google.org-supported efforts, including... AI Singapore’s Project Aquarium
TranslateGemma is built with Gemini
TranslateGemma, a family of lightweight open translation models built from Gemini
voice AI assistant that brings the power of Gemini to standard feature phones
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