MO: [ILAT] The path to Google Maori [fwd link]

[Te Taka Keegan]

E te whanau ILAT, tena koutou,

 

Just a couple of personal comments about the work:

 

i) First I must apologise that it took 7 years to complete this project as
from a pure translation perspective it isn't all that difficult. In some
meagre form of defence I'd like to suggest that Google wasn't so essential
to our children's knowledge acquisition back then as it is now, and perhaps
the Maori language has only in recent years but in a state where this kind
of localisation could be completed with the professionalism that it
deserves.

 

ii) I'd like to suggest that this is only a beginning. Google has a lot of
other tools that need to be localised into Maori as well; iGoogle, Google
Maps, Google Earth, Gmail, Google Desktop to name but a few. Their browser
Chrome has recently been released. With relatively small languages such as
ours finding sponsors to fund these ongoing translations is essential.

 

iii) In terms of information retrieval; translating the interface may give a
false impression that the search engine is actually searching for "Maori
related" information when for minority languages this is probably not the
case. Daniel Cunliffe makes this point succinctly in his blog
http://datblogu.weblog.glam.ac.uk/2008/7/24/te-wiki-o-te-reo-maori  Further
work needs to be undertaken with the search engines themselves to ensure
that the results returned from searches best 'fits' the clients as defined
by their language selection.

 

iv) As language is vital in the description of information so indigenous
languages are vital in the description of indigenous information. I think we
are entering into an exciting time where more and more our technology will
be able to support our indigenous languages.

 

I was fortunate to be able to attend the Google Maori launch. Potaua and
Nikolasa did a wonderful job of organising this, especially given the
circumstances described in their post that I was certainly unaware of. It
was an awesome event, long may the momentum continue!

 

naku noa, na

 

Te Taka

 

--------------

Te Taka Keegan, PhD

Pukenga Matua           | Senior Lecturer

Tari Rorohiko           | Computer Science Department

Whare Wananga o Waikato | University of Waikato

Waea: (07) 838 4420     | Phone (07) 838 4420

http:/www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~tetaka

--------------------------------------------------

  _____  

Mai: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
Mo Tracy Jacobs
Kua Tukua: Taite, 11 Mahuru 2008 6:12 p.m.
Ki: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Marau: [ILAT] The path to Google Maori [fwd link]

 

Kia ora

 

The September issue of the Rangikainga e-panui outlines the development of
Google Maori.  Sounds like the logistics were a real mission, especially in
prepping for the launch!

 

http://www.tangatawhenua.com/rangikainga/2008/issue7.htm

 

(It's the first article.)

 

And this is a link to a little information about the development of
Rangikainga's host site, tangatawhenua.com:

 

http://www.tangatawhenua.com/mihi.htm

 

E noho ora mai

 

Tracy Jacobs

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