Bhashini: India's AI-based #language platform to break down language barriers

On Tuesday this week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about #Bhashini, India's AI-based language platform, at the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). He offered to share the platform with everyone within the SCO to remove language barriers.

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As someone who has lived and traveled in multiple countries with diverse languages, I have seen firsthand the challenges that people face when living or traveling in countries that speak a different language than their own. A simple exercise like shopping can become difficult, as all the labels are in the local language and the local workforce may not speak English or any other language you know. Business meetings can be equally difficult, especially when you are interacting with professionals who are not well-versed in English and you do not speak the local language. We often end up using human translators, which takes away crucial time from the meeting for translation and relaying messages.

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India's #AI platform, Bhashini, is a welcome offering not just to the SCO, but to the world. The platform uses natural language processing (#NLP) and #machinelearning (#ML) to translate between 22 Indian languages, including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and Gujarati. In addition to its ability to translate between Indian languages, Bhashini can also translate between Indian languages and other major world languages, such as English, French, and Spanish. This makes it a powerful tool for communication and collaboration between people from different countries and cultures.

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Here are some of the different uses for Bhashini:

• ?#digitallearning : Bhashini can be used to create and deliver educational content in different Indian languages. This could help to improve access to education for people who speak minority languages.
• #Ecommerce: Bhashini can be used to translate product descriptions, customer reviews, and other e-commerce content into different languages. This could help businesses to expand into new markets and reach a wider audience.
• #Government services: Bhashini can be used to translate government documents, websites, and other services into different languages. This could help to make government services more accessible to people who speak minority languages.
• #Media and #entertainment: Bhashini can be used to translate movies, TV shows, songs, and other media content into different languages. This could help to make media content more accessible to people who speak minority languages.
• #Livetranslation: I am hoping that companies like #Samsung, #Apple, #Realme, #Vivo, #OnePlus, #Oppo, and #Xiaomi will develop devices powered by Bhashini that allow people to receive live translation of the other person's dialogue/speech in real time. This might sound like science fiction, but I don't think it is far-fetched anymore.

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Overall, Bhashini is a powerful tool that has the potential to make the world a more connected place and thus be a game-changer for communication and collaboration around the world. By reducing language barriers, it could help to break down cultural barriers and promote understanding between people from different countries. I am excited to see how this #technology is used in the near future.

Quick Links:?

Video Clip of Indian PM Mr Narendra Modi talking about Bhashini at Virtual Summit of SCO

https://youtu.be/vj1dD5UbGrs

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Press Release of Bhashini from August 26th 2022

https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2022/aug/doc202282696201.pdf