Now, you can make Google voice search in Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu in addition to Hindi or English. Yeah! Its true.
Because, Google has recently extended support for voice search in 30 new languages, in which 8 of them are Indian languages that we talked above.
The speakers of these Indian languages will be able to use this feature – both in Gboard (a Google Keyboard on Android) as well as in Search through the Google App (for both Android and iOS).
How to activate preferred voice search?
- Google Search app & Gboard: In both the cases, you will have to go the Settings and select the language in Voice Settings Menu.
- Once that is done, you have to just tap the microphone icon
(i.e. usually available on home screen of Android smartphones) to start voice search. That’s it! - Soon, the support for new languages on Google Voice search will be available for iOS and will also be extended to other Google apps and products, including the Translate app.
(i.e. usually available on home screen of Android smartphones) to start voice search. That’s it!READ MORE Oxford University Press (OUP) has launched Tamil & Gujarati Online Dictionaries
Google Voice Search
It must be noted that the Google voice search support 119 languages, globally. The recent support for 30 new languages (8 of them Indian languages) will increase voice typing on Gboard that helps users to respond to emails on the go and send texts within messaging apps.
As stated by Google, using voice to dictate a message is not just convenient, but it is also up to three times faster than typing.
KPMG report on India and Google
- According to recent study by KPMG on India and Google , in 2016, there were 234 million Indian language internet users as compared to 175 million English internet users.
- This impressive growth in Indian language internet users has resulted in surpassing the English internet users. And, this growth rate is still continuing.
- It is expected that Indian language internet users are nearly to account 75% of India’s internet user base by 2021.
Thus, Google’s move to support Indian languages has a very positive impact on Indians, who prefer their native language over English to read, write and communicate with each other. This, impact can be easily visualize on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat.
The KPMG report 2017 has expected that by 2021 –
- The number of Hindi internet users will be more than English users.
- Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu users are expected to form 30% of the total Indian language internet user base.
- Tamil and Kannada speakers have the high propensity to adopt internet in future.
Thus, more & more social media platforms are focusing and preferring on Indian languages. It’s not end, it’s just starting.
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