Mloovi, via Google Translate, currently supports 35 different languages. This has recently increased from 24, as reported here.
Well, depending on which source you read, there are around 6,900 spoken languages in the world today! However, before we task Google with the job of coding the translation protocols for all of them, we must take into account that many are spoken by fewer than 1,000 people.
Most popular languages? That subject is, as they say, quite a can of worms. Do we count all speakers of a language (for instance, when English is retained as a second language we add that speaker to the English count), or just primary, or native, speakers?
Taking broad estimates results in large table to be found here. You’ll note that although Mandarin ranks as number one, the estimate ranges wildly between 873 million and 1200 million people! The Top Ten are…
Mandarin
Hindustani
Spanish
English
Arabic
Portuguese
Bengali
Russian
Japanese
German
This makes for some interesting reading, and certainly highlights the fact that Google’s choice for language roll-out is not purely based on popularity, given that, for example, Czech is spoken by ‘only’ 12 million people and yet is already in the Google list.
Clearly, then, the choices for the good folk at Google are based on internet usage, and economic status. Not entirely surprising criteria for a commercial operation.
So, I’m pretty sure that the 60,000-strong Scottish Gaelic community wields a fair amount of internet clout. Perhaps we’ll see this language added to the Google list before, say, Haitian Creole?
Mloovi is currently sitting on over 100,000 translated blog pages, achieved by translating over 3000 blogs!
Why so many pages?
Well, every time a blog’s RSS feed is submitted for translation we create a result in all 35 languages, regardless of which language you have chosen.
Why is this good?
Since these are permanent HTML pages they are then indexable by every global search engine that sends out a spider! Over time, and without any effort on your part, you will find that your blog will come up in searches made in lots of different languages. Is that cool, or is that cool?
Let us say thanks to you Mr, Mrs or Miss BlogOwner for using Mloovi, and for having the foresight to want to speak to your world!
Top dog here at Mloovi is Mike Robinson, the developer responsible for taking the Mloovi concept from nothing to something! Mike recently attended Web 2.0 Expo Europe in Berlin, where he was invited to perform a short pitch in the back of a car! Here’s the result…
Kris Wheaton writes a blog called Sources and Methods which he describes as “Whatever happens to cross my desk or mind on teaching, intelligence or teaching intelligence”.
Kris uses Mloovi to translate RSS feeds, and has written a great two part tutorial that firstly talks us through some RSS basics, then secondly focuses on the application of Mloovi.
If you’re still a little unsure about RSS feeds and Mloovi, then nip over to Kris’s blog for a second opinion. Thanks Kris!
How can bloggers wage a war against poverty? ‘Talking’ is what bloggers do best, about anything and everything. If you talk about poverty, then you increase awareness - it’s a no-brainer.
And, incredibly, there are still people around who think poverty equals going without a packet of cigarettes sometimes. Yes, really. And if those who wield power think that too, then we’re sunk.
I discussed the meaning of poverty yesterday. That message needs to be repeated to as many people as possible. Not only should we stop to think about poverty, but we should also look for it. It’s everywhere if we look hard enough.
If you’re a champion against poverty, then blogging about your experience and struggle is important. It also makes sense to reach out to people who can help, especially if the régime in your country is unable or unwilling to help. You could consider using Mloovi to translate your words into other languages.
Some thoughts for action:
If your plight isn’t acknowledged in your own country, who will help? Can you reach out to people in other nations? Perhaps enlist the aid of outside agencies?
Making more people aware of a problem increases the chance of reaching a solution.
There is a small, but increasing push to get internet access into impoverished countries: a growing facility for ordinary people to be heard.
Poverty at home: the technology is available to you via libraries and community groups, you are not excluded from blogging.
Blogging lets you telling your own story: you don’t need the newspapers, though they can help - email your local newspaper with your blog details! They’re usually desperate for stories.
The current global financial crisis would have us believe that devastation awaits the developed world. How little we know, and how little we remember. Have we forgotten how basic life was for our parents and grandparents?
Our yardsticks change with time, I understand that. For example, central heating in most of our homes has led us to expect a constant level of comfort. When I was growing up we had one single gas-fire, and an army of electric heaters that Dad wouldn’t let us use too often. When my parents were growing up they had a single open-hearth fire. Blankets and extra pullovers were the order of the day.
No-one, least of all me, would advocate that we turn the clock back. All I ask is that we take a moment to use our imaginations. We need to imagine ourselves living a just a few decades ago in order to regain our value system. Hey, if we could put ourselves in the places our ancestors from hundreds of years ago, even better! If we could all do that, I think we’d all tend to feel happier about the economic climate. And maybe a little more happiness would make a lot of the bad stuff go away.
If you’re sitting at a computer, reading this, I’ll hazard that poverty - real poverty - is not a factor in your life. A few of you may be reading this from a free community service, and yes, you may be poverty-stricken - but you’ll be in a vanishingly-small minority.
My guess is that if you experience a daily struggle to feed and clothe yourself and your family, then you’re not going to have the time nor the inclination to surf the internet. And if you do, I suggest that your time would be better spent seeking online opportunities than reading blogs like this.
What is the definition of poverty? The dictionary defines poverty as, “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support”. We should elaborate on that, and I’ve found a good summary here…
Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.
That summation is a good place to start: the beginning of understanding. To further understand, perhaps we should also ask if any of that summary applies to us. For instance, I live in the UK, and I doubt anyone in my country could honestly claim to suffer from any of these problems. Being unemployed is not enough: those who are unemployed without social assistance need only apply.
I, of course, have no direct experience of poverty so I’m going to have to use my imagination. I suggest that you, dear blog reader, try to do the same from time to time. It’s the least we can do.
Blog Action Day 2008 is nearly upon us. Wednesday 15th October 2008 is the day when many bloggers will be taking the opportunity to talk about poverty. The aim? Well, some say talk is cheap: but if enough people get yacking about something then it’s just possible to move issues from the back of the mind to the fore.
As a blogger, would you relish the chance to talk to a wider audience? Of course you would. We suggest that on the 15th you visit us here at Mloovi to get free translations of your blog’s RSS feed. It’s really simple, just enter your RSS feed address into Mloovi, and we’ll supply you with all you need to talk to people in 35 different languages! If you’re going to talk about poverty, then use Mloovi to help.
As a small incentive, on the 15th our advertising will be given over to charitable concerns. Well, that’s our aim. If, on the day, you happen to see a few non-charity ads that’ll only be because spare slots are available.
We realise that all of this may seem a little bewildering, as you may be new to blogging, let alone getting to grips with RSS feeds. Got any queries? Leave a comment, pose your questions and we’ll try to answer them in time for Blog Action Day 2008…
Google has just released support for another 11 languages, therefore so has Mloovi! The details are in the Google AJAX Search API Blog, but in summary we now support 35 different languages…
When Mike started to develop Mloovi a few people asked him if he was worried about Google creating a similar service. Of course, there’s always that possibility, and Google may already be working on something. It would make sense as they have the Google Translate API and have acquired Feedburner, and these would seem to be a perfect fit.
Mike has thought about this quite a lot, and reckons if they’re already working on something then they could harm our efforts with Mloovi, not least because they’ve got the financial resources and marketing clout to tell the world about their services quicker and wider than we ever could.
However, we’re not so sure that Google would act in such a manner. Why? Well, Google provide APIs to enable developers to come up with innovative mash-ups using their products. This encourages several things:
Inclusion of expertise from programmers who would otherwise be unable to participate in large company projects, like students, impoverished geniuses or folk without the opportunities we take for granted in the western world.
The creation of genuine eureka services - those things that wouldn’t normally come out of boardroom meetings, but are inspired by cheese-induced nightmares and acted upon by individuals just because they can.
Strengthening of the Google brand, since projects made with Google APIs have to publicise that fact, the word is spread, and Google becomes a word synonymous with open and transparent business practices.
The notion that Google is at the vanguard of businesses that rely on community values of sharing, transparency, and trust - rather than perceived as being a cyclopean corporate with the single goal of making money, as quickly as possible.
We realise that a lot of that is based on feeling warm and snuggly about a large corporate operation, and that’s not something we’ve learned to do. What we can say about Google is that opening up their APIs to external developers, they’re re-educating us about how big business should be viewed.
Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.
The theme this year is poverty, the point being that on the 15th of October 2008 all blog participants should discuss the issue of poverty, in whatever context, using the voice and stance of their own blog. It should make for some interesting viewpoints. Well, it can’t fail to: currently around 6,500 bloggers are poised to take part!
