Africa Blog
Google in Sub-Saharan Africa: news, stories and thoughts
Ethiopic transliteration in Gmail and across Google!
Monday, April 12, 2010
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በአማርኛ
Note: in order to see Ethiopic characters, you will need to install an Ethiopic font on your computer. If you can't see the following ፊደል, then you don't have an Ethiopic font installed. Please install one of the
options listed here
for example.
Writing Amharic or Tigrinya remains a challenge on most computers, mainly due to the basic problem of inputting Ethiopic characters on standard western keyboards. The solution is transliteration: mapping one writing system to another, in this case taking the Roman (also known as Latin) characters that you type and converting them phonetically into Ethiopic and displaying the corresponding ፊደል. Last year, we launched
Ethiopic transliteration in Google suggest
, which facilitated Google web searches in Amharic or Tigrinya.
Now, we are glad to announce Amharic and Tigrinya transliteration support in several key Google products with text input.
Gmail now helps you write e-mails in Amharic or Tigrinya! Enable transliteration in your Gmail settings as shown here.
You can then turn on transliteration anytime you compose a new email by clicking on the symbol in the top left corner of the compose window. Here are some
detailed instructions on transliteration in Gmail
.
Just write naturally
The transliteration service works the same way in all Google products with text input. To use it in Amharic, you simply type the Amharic words in Roman letters phonetically (i.e. as they sound). As soon as you reach the space at the end of a word, the Roman characters get replaced by the word in ፊደል.
If the Amharic word is not exactly the one you are expecting, hitting backspace gives you a list of alternative transliterations of what you typed, and you can select the appropriate one (including the original Roman characters if you don't want that word to be transliterated).
Unlike other software that you may have used in the past, Google transliteration does not require the user to memorize specific rules of correspondence between characters. Instead it looks at the whole word to figure out the best transliteration, thus freeing the user to just type naturally. For example, in Amharic, "neger gn
"
becomes ነገር ግን, whereas "negeregn" yields ነገረኝ. Our system figures out that in the first case, the user typing "gn" meant to use them as two sounds, and in the second case it's just one sound.
In Google Labs, there's a standalone tool to transliterate any text you type or paste. To use it, simply go to
www.google.com/transliterate/amharic
(or
/tigrinya
) and type away! Going forward, Ethiopic languages will be supported in several
Google products that support transliteration
.
We are very excited about this new functionality. We hope it will facilitate communications, as well as the creation of content and dissemination of information in Ethiopic languages around the world.
Posted by Nemo Semret, Engineer
====
Translittération Ethiopique dans Gmail et d'autres produits Google!
Écrire en Amharique ou en Tigrinya reste une tâche difficile sur la plupart des ordinateurs, surtout à cause du problème fondamental d'entrée de caractères ethiopiques sur les claviers occidentaux. La solution est ce qu'on appelle translittération: prendre les lettres romaines (ou latines) que vous tapez et les convertir phonétiquement en ethiopique, et montrer les ፊደል correspondants. L'année dernière, nous avons lancé la fonctionalité de
translittération ethiopique pour le moteur de recherche Google
pour faciliter les recherches web en Amharique et en Tigrinya.
Aujourd'hui, nous avons le plaisir d'annoncer le support pour la translittération en Amharique et en Tigrinya dans plusieurs produits importants de Google qui requièrent l'entrée de texte.
Gmail vous permet désormais de composer votre courrier électronique en Amharique ou en Tigrinya! Activez la translittération sur la page "Paramètres" de Gmail comme illustré ci-dessus. Ensuite, à tout moment pendant la composition de vos messages, il suffit d'appuyer sur le symbole ethiopique dans le coin en haut à gauche de votre boite d'entrée pour vous trouver en mode translittération. Pour plus de renseignements, consultez
la page d'aide sur la translittération dans Gmail
.
Dans Google Labs, il y a un outil autonome pour translittérer le texte que vous tapez ou collez. Pour l'utiliser, il suffit d'aller à
www.google.com/transliteration/amharic
(ou
/tigrinya
) et tout simplement écrire ! À l'avenir, les langues ethiopiques seront supportées par plusieurs
produits Google avec translittération
.
Écrivez naturellement
Le service de translittération fonctionne de la même façon dans tous les produits Google. Pour l'utiliser en Amharique, on écrit en Amharique phonétiquement en lettre romaines, et dès qu'on arrive à l'espace à la fin d'un mot, les caractères romains sont remplacés par le mot en ፊደል. Si le mot amharique n'est pas exactement le mot désiré, on appuye sur la touche backspace pour obtenir une liste de translittérations alternatives (incluant le mot originel au cas où on ne veut pas le translitérer).
Contrairement à d'autres logiciels, le système de translittération de Google ne requiert pas que l'utilisateur mémorise des règles de correspondance entre caractères. Le système prend en compte le mot entier pour trouver la meilleure translittération possible, laissant ainsi l'utilisateur libre d'écrire naturellement. Par exemple, en Amharique, "neger gn" devient ነገር ግን, alors que "negeregn" donne ነገረኝ. Le système comprend que dans le premier cas, l'utilisateur qui tape "gn" les entend comme deux sons, alors que dans le second cas, c'est un son unique.
Nous sommes heureux de présenter cette nouvelle fonctionalité et espérons qu'elle facilitera les communications, ainsi que la publication de contenu et la dissémination d'information en langues ethiopiques à travers le monde.
Posté par Nemo Semret, ingénieur
====
አዲስ የ ጉግሌ አገልገሎት: ጂሜል ውስጥ በ ፊደል መፃፍ ይቻላል!
በ ኮምፕዩተር ባማርኛ ወይንም በ ትግርኛ መፃፍ ቀላል ያልሆነበት ዋናው ምክንያት፣ በ ላቲን ኪቦርድ ፊደል የመፃፍ ችግር ነው። አምና፣ በግእዝ ፊደል ኢንተርኔት ላይ የተመዘገቡ ፅሁፎችን
በ ጉግል ፍለጋ ማግኝያ መንገድ አቀረብን
።
አሁን ደግሞ፣ ጉግል በምያቀርብላቹህ የፊደል ትርጎማ አገልገሎት፣ ጂሜል (Gmail) ዉስጥ ባማርኛና በትግርኛ ደብዳቤ በቀላሉ መፃፍ ይችላሉ!
በዚህ ለመጠቀም የ ጂሜል "Settings" ገፅ ላይ "Enable Transliteration" የሚለውን ምርጫ ማድረግ አለቦት። ቀጥሎ ደብዳቤ በሚፅፉበት ግዜ፣ የ ገፁ ላይ ላይ ያለው ዳር ላይ ያለችዋን "አ" በመጫን፣ ወደ አማርኛ ፅሁፍ የገባሉ። ቀዝያ እንደስሜቶ በ ላቲን ፊደል አማርኛ ሲፅፉ፣ እያንዳንዱ ቃል መጨርሻ ላይ ወደ ትክክለኛው ፊደል ትተርጉሞ ይቀርባል።
ተጨማሪ መረጃ በዚህ ገፅ
ላይ ይገኛል።
የ ጉግል ፊደል ትርጎማ ከሌሎች ሶፍትዌር ይለያል። እንደ ሌሎቹ ተጠቃሚው የፊደል ትርጎማ ሕጎቹን እንድያስታወስ አይጠይቅም። ይልቅ ጉግል ፊደሎቹን ለየብቻ ሳይሆን ቃላቶቹን አይቶ ትክክለኛዉን ትርጉም ያገኛል።
በ ጂሜል ብቻ ሳይሆን፣ በሌሎች የጉግል አገልግሎቶች ላይ የ ፊደል ትርጎማ ችሎታ ይጨመራል። በ Google Labs ላይ፣ ለብቻው ወይንም በፈለጉበት የሶፍትዌር መሳርያ፣ ይህን ትርጎማ ለመጠቀም፣
እዚህ ገፅ
(www.google.com/transliterate/amharic) ጋር ይሂዱ።
ይህን አገልግሎት ጠቃሚ ሆኖ እንደምታኙት ተስፋ እናረጋለን!
ነሞ ሥምረት
ኢንጀንየር
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