Google’s Voice Search engine has now added Icelandic to its list of languages, thanks to a local inventor and Google employee.
Vísir reports that Trausti Kristjánsson conducted the project, which used about 123,000 voice samples from 563 different people to complete. The Icelandic Centre for Language Technology and the University of Reykjavík contributed to the project.
Discussing the advantages of the project, Trausti said, “Naturally, people don’t need to use a keyboard. It’s comfortable for the blind and the seeing impaired. But the goal is to make the product easier to use, for example to use voice recognition in cars, to send text messages and set the alarm.”
You can see the Icelandic voice search in action in this video, using everyone’s favourite Icelandic word, “Eyjafjallajökull”.
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