Microsoft has introduced the translation option for Swahili, a feat that was achieved in partnership with Tanslators Without Borders. The Swahili language is used by more than 150 million people in East and Central Africa, and is the first native African language to be supported by the company’s automatic translation service.
Microsoft said it will integrate the Swahili language translation service across its products range including Bing, Microsoft Office, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Publisher, OneNote, Cortana among others. The translator, running on Microsoft cloud services, will see Lumia phone users and personal computers running on Windows translate any language to Kiswahili.
In addition, Microsoft will also introduce other apps to run on Android and iOS powered devices. Microsoft added that it is looking at community and global use of the functionality to veer away from the traditional human translator.
“Governments in the region will be able to make documents and information available at virtually no cost. In addition, both government and non-governmental organisations will be able to quickly communicate with locals, and most importantly, people will be able to communicate back and forth across borders for both business and personal purposes,” Said Microsoft’s Kenya country manager Kunle Awosika.
