Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

My beef with ‘Google Translate’ to Swahili

by on Jan.19, 2012, under Coding, Personal

Punda Milia - Ass Mi Cry

As you all know, I am not the type to castigate anyone that tries everything within their means and fails. That would be ironic, hypocritical and downright Kenyan. That would make me an arm-chair critic.

I am in the business of failure. So far, 5.6 out of every 6 inventions I have tried to come up with has failed miserably. I have been told to give up, many times. But, I keep soldiering.

If I see a campus kid at Nailab/iHub with 17 bugs in his 5 lines of code, I will find a way to laugh about it WITH him/her and the fix the issues with/for them. And everyone goes home happy.

But then comes the other side of the coin. You look at the locus standi:

  • Google are touted to have the most rigorous developer grilling exercises during interviews. So they have the ‘best’ developers, thinkers etc.
  • They have gazzilions of USDs to pour [thanks @coldtusker] in research on languages.
  • They even have a bloody LOCAL office in Kenya, the mother-land of Swahili, access to all the best Swahili professors/linguists in Africa.

But apart from butt-f**king mocality, I wonder what else their local office does.

Google in Swahili is the BIGGEST joke of all time.

Ok, Ok. Alright. Before the ‘google ni mama yetu’ team start getting all emotional and feeling as if their man-hood has been challenged, let us look at some few examples. Again, these are my views as IDD SALIM. Don’t victimize my cat or Arsenal. Ni mimi.

1 – Just because you are in Kenya, Google automatically shows you Gmail and Google.com in Swahili. Is this a racist joke? I always take this to mean that : “Hello fella, you are so illiterate and stupid, but the clever geniuses at google have translated the internet into your primitive language that even we don’t understand, so that you can use the Internet better. Bonyeza hiki kifungo [press this button]“.

This is the equivalent of seeing a black man enter a restaurant and automatically serving him chicken, before he even orders. This is the annoying and demeaning equivalent of seeing a skimpily dressed girl in a club and asking her ‘How much for the whole night’, before even ASKING for her name and finding out what the deal is.

Assumptions, Assumptions, Assumptions.

2 – The ‘switch to english’ cookie is timed and when it expires, The bloody service goes back to Swahili. So you can imagine how many times my neighbours and friends call saying : “Salim, it has gone back to Swahili. Please come and help again.”

3 – We would not complain like this if the translation was ACTUALLY in SWAHILI. (Ofcourse, It is only Salim who blogs about these things. The rest just complain in elevators and DM. Pussies.) The translation comes out as a Kindergarten attempt to Swahili. It is as if the translator teams just read “A complete Idiot’s guide to Broken Swahili” and then said, “Boss, we are ready”. Na wakaanza kazi.

Ok. Again. I know. NLP is the hardest part of Programming. But where does NLP apply on the Home page? On GMail Inbox? On Simple Search results page? That is a simple language file. Can’t google get that right? Is swahili translation something they REALLY take seriously, or is it just a hobby they gave to 3 Swahili Under-graduates from Yale/Stanford.

I think Google-Swahili should be taken offline and be given to UoN students as an excersize. Waget something better to do than throwing stones, waget doo kiasi, na pia wa-get bragging rights.

Let us have something Kenya, done PROPERLY by Kenyans, in Kenya.

Until then, it is a bad joke, in bad test.

Ni hayo tu.

Back to code.

Wazi.


  • http://twitter.com/thisisfreddi Don Federico

    “Let us have something Kenya, done PROPERLY by Kenyans, in Kenya” 
    Google translation is done here in Kenyans, by local, mostly local linguistics, and the content crowd source from Kenyans. And genuinely, it is a big effort by Google as they localize content. It’s not perfect but it’s a big leap.

    If you want to colonize people introduce a new language and a new religion, let them forget their own. This is the dilemma we, Africa, are facing. We don’t appreciate our own content, we want imported stuff. Look at Asia, and China in particular, they are doing so well, hugely, ’cause they have held onto their culture.

  • Anonymous

    Wow! this saddens me further.

    Kenyan’s did that shoddy work? Do you have any proof?

    Google is not a start-up. They are not meant to TRY. They have the resources to DO IT.

  • http://twitter.com/thisisfreddi Don Federico

    This is the chap in-charge of localization http://ke.linkedin.com/in/dgikunda u may want to ping him.

    Language translation is pretty tricky. It’s like getting angry at Apple because Siri doesnt get your accent.

  • coldtusker

    @twitter-45510241:disqus Please post your comment in Kiswahili. Let’s see how far you go. Please don’t use Google Translate.

  • http://www.techweez.com/ Martin Gicheru

    My problem is not even the attempt to have a translation to swahili but the fact that I have to use it. Cant I have the option of selecting the language and keep those settings. Am not in the business of trying to figure out things in swahili that will take me eons, I want things done faster, easier. And I speak swahili, not to be mistaken to mean I dont want to be associated with it.

    CHOICE!!

  • http://twitter.com/gridenko Gridenko

     so Asia and china are where they are because of ‘bonyeza hiki kifungo’? this is a bad joke

  • Anonymous

    Now you are introducing me to deno. #smh. Have known him since 1997 and we went to the same skul.

    Why are we even discussing an issue that you CLEARLY haven’t taken time to understand, and are just defending emotionally.

    I said they are failing on the simple stuff. Not NLP. Why are you bringing in NLP and Siri?

    Worizzzit?

  • http://twitter.com/thisisfreddi Don Federico

    I’m emotionally attached to any issue here Idd. I’m being objective; you asked who’s in charge, i pointed you to Dan. You said the translation is pathetic, IMO it’s an effort we should appreciate. It’s not as great as you say but definitely it’s not pathetic, and of course, it’ll get better. It’s a start

  • Anonymous

    I asked who was in charge? Soma comments tena. i asked for proof that the shoddy work was done in Kenya.

    Let us just say, google have done the sort of work I would expect a campus team of freshers to do. Simple as. And this is my beef.

  • http://twitter.com/thisisfreddi Don Federico

    It’s not much about me being able to read and/or write well in Swahili, but about the other millions of Kenyans who are not well versed with English. Will Google shelve them aside ’cause they cant read eng? I don’t think so. Localizing content is essential as much as we still have news at 7 read in Swahili, and radio stations that broadcast in local dialects.

  • Anonymous

    What millions? You are believing the google lie? What cocoon are you living in?

    Suppose I told you that those MILLIONS dont have internet and have never used/heard of google?

    People like YOU and me are the ones using the NET and we DONT need the annoying translation. Because we know english. I hope.

  • Anonymous

    Some sense at last!! 

    It should ASK. Not automatically switch.

  • http://twitter.com/thisisfreddi Don Federico

    well then, let us just agree to disagree.

  • http://twitter.com/thisisfreddi Don Federico

    It’s not a Google lie, it’s a reality. Only 14% of Kenyans have access to internet(according to CCK) and there are a MILLIONS of guys out there who CANNOT read English.

    You may want to ignore them but Google will not. ACCESS, RELEVANCE and SUSTENANCE, I repeat, is Google’s objective here. We need to get internet access to these people Idd, and provide content they can relate to, at least.

    And since you and I are conversant with the NET, I believe we are able to choose the lang we want our webpages to be displayed in, right?

  • Chao

    I agree with you the whole thing is just a pathetic attempt to “bring the internet closer to the “natives”" first of all translation of “Im feeling lucky” is not in any way “Leo ni siku yangu”..the idea itself is not bad but if ur going to do something AT LEAST do it well and get ur facts right

  • Anonymous

    perfect. you  just summarized the blogpost in one paragraph.

  • http://twitter.com/thisisfreddi Don Federico

    instead of whining, what do you suggest Google should do better? This whole idea of being armchair critics ain’t helping the cause.

    Doesn’t “Leo ni siku yangu” mean it’s my lucky day or something close to that? Don’t be one dimensional bana

  • Knkinambuga

    i dont understand the argument here. Google should just leave MY settings the way they are. usumbufu ni ya?

  • Dennis

    Nail on the head! I am also frustrated by google having the products in swahili. Hapa si tz. You have spoken well my broda!

  • http://twitter.com/MurayaKamau Muraya Kamau

    The truth is that Swahili google is using is not the Swahili we speak. I was a straight A student in Swahili so I am imagining how difficult it is for the ‘real’ target group. Then just because I’m in Kenya doesn’t necessarily mean that Swahili is my first language 

  • Charles Q

    I’m so sad :-( Google Translate has now fixed this one: Type ‘women’ and ask it to translate to Swahili. Answer: ‘stupidity’. Untrue, but worth me grabbing a screenshot (can send – and NO it was not PShopped).

  • Brianngaish

    dude who th hell can read swahili n nt english???? ka mi nimesoma kiswahili n google transltions dnt mek sense y the hell..

  • Brianngaish

    dude who th hell can read swahili n nt english???? ka mi nimesoma kiswahili n google transltions dnt mek sense y the hell..

  • Mwalo David

    i tried translating Kiroboto hahaha guess what i got, they asked me if i meant roboto wtf

  • Mwalo David

    translate meza mate you get Table mate

  • Anonymous

    yenyewe hapo google mli noa mbaya…..oh wait translate that

  • http://www.facebook.com/eknduati Edwin Kamau Nduati

    guy’s don’t forget how google translate works…by detecting patterns in documents that have already been translated by human translators….na yenyewe hizo docs in swa si mob. It is just a machine.

  • http://www.facebook.com/eknduati Edwin Kamau Nduati

    but still, it is annoying and insulting. We can always use Ask.com anyone, hehehe.

  • Stephen deBuitleir

    Google does this to everyone, so I wouldn’t get too paranoid.  Here in Germany I get search in German whether I want it or not.

    By the way

  • Stephen deBuitleir

    I like the writing style by the way – not PC but very entertaining.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Stephen. I try to drive the point home with a bit of humor and straight-shooting.

  • Anonymous

    African language is a HUGE market. I am training some young coders in the good coding ways so that we can start our own translator.

    My talks about Mpesa and Security have put me in a great deal of problems. I prefer not to talk about that publicly.

    That SAID, Mpesa is very secure from a fraud and social engineering point of view. It is a well-thought system.

  • Disgusted

    I agree. It is quite annoying to have to keep switching to English. Who ever told Google that we want to get our search results in Swahili. It is so annoying. Moreover, swahili was not the official lunguage in Kenya until the fellas who crafted the new constitution thought it a good idea to have it as the other official language. How many people in Kenya can read swahili with the necessary proficiency! I agree with Salim, this is serious stereo-typing. One would hope someone at Google, especially since they have an office in Nairobi, would have the balls to remove this nonsense swahili translation thing.

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