Goutamkumar Oinam (Public Domain)
Machine translation apps and webs of Meitei language
Meitei language, also known as Manipuri, is the official language of Manipur state, Assam state as well as a constitutional language (at national level) of the Republic of India, besides being a recognised literary and academic language of Tripura state. It is supported in numerous machine translation apps and webs, but to choose which one is the most accurate isn’t an easy task. Hmm… Let’s have a mini survey!
One point to be noted is that Meitei is also known as Manipuri, Meetei, Meithei, Meiteilon, Meeteilon, Kanglei, and many more. So, in different apps and webs, either of these mentioned popular synonyms might be used. So, when you type one name and don’t find it, well, take a second look! It’s not much difficult too!
Here, for the specimen purpose, I am taking a sentence “Manipur is a wonderful place.” The same sentence will be used for translation in all the apps and webs. Some use Meetei Mayek script (mni-Mtei), or Bengali script (mni-Beng), or Latin script (mni-Latn), where “mni” stands for “Manipuri” and the rest of the code words refer to the respective writing systems.
Google Translate ???
Google Translate uses Meitei Mayek script for Meitei language. It has a mid level of accuracy, neither high nor low. For words of advanced terminology of the very language, Google Translate usually just transliterate instead of translate. In the above image, Google is translating “Manipur is a wonderful place” as “ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔ ꯑꯁꯤ ꯑꯉꯀꯄꯥ ꯃꯐꯝ ꯑꯃꯅꯤ꯫” (manipur asi angakapa mapham amani.) Here, spelling mistakes are found, and it happens frequently in many more cases for the very language. But the way of expressing the sentence structure is average.
If it is to be rated, then it will have 3.5 out of 5 points.
Microsoft Translator ???
Microsoft Translator uses both Meetei Mayek script as well as Latin script for translating from English to Manipuri, but for vice versa (Manipuri to English), Latin script is disabled. It has an outstanding performance in the usage of diverse vocabularies. There is a significantly little amount of spelling mistake. Here, “Manipur is a wonderful place” is translated as “ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔ ꯑꯁꯤ ꯌꯥꯝꯅ ꯐꯖꯕ ꯃꯐꯝ ꯑꯃꯅꯤ꯫” (manipur asi yaamna phajaba mapham amani.) Accuracy level is not perfect but still fairly good.
If it is to be rated, then it will have 4 out of 5 points.
Bhashini ???
Bhashini, a project of the Government of India, uses Meetei Mayek script for Meitei language. Its algorithm is used by AI4Bharat (Artificial-Intelligence-For-Bhārat), an AI technology platform developed by IIT Madras in collaboration with the Government of India. Bhashini allows both male and female voice output technology for Meitei language. There is a little level of spelling mistakes. Its translation accuracy is pretty much the same as that of Microsoft Translator, that is fairly good.
Here, “Manipur is a wonderful place” is translated as “ꯃꯅꯤꯄꯨꯔ ꯑꯁꯤ ꯐꯖꯔꯕ ꯃꯐꯝ ꯑꯃꯅꯤ ꯫” (manipur asi phajaraba mapham amani.) Wordings are unique from other translation apps and webs.
If it is to be rated, then it will have 4 out of 5 points.
Glosbe Translate ???
Glosbe Translate uses Bengali script for Meitei language. Its translation accuracy is fairly good and spelling mistakes are rare.
Here, “Manipur is a wonderful place” is translated as “মনিপুর অসি য়াম্না ফবা মফম অমনি।” (manipur asi yaamna phaba mapham amani.) Though not perfect, still understandable level of the language vocabulary is used.
If it is to be rated, then it will have 4 out of 5 points.
Modern MT ???
Modern MT uses Bengali script for Meitei language. As of mid 2024, translation accuracy is pretty low, though it is significantly improving from the previous time. However, spelling mistakes are less in comparison to wording errors. Most of the sentence translation results lack accuracy, but it is pretty good for single word translations.
Here, “Manipur is a wonderful place” is translated as “মনিপুর অসি য়াম্না নুংঙাইবা মফম অমনি ।” (manipur asi yaamna nungngaiba mapham amani.) Though relatable words are used, it still can’t translate perfectly even in this simple short sentence.
If it is to be rated, then it will have 2 out of 5 points.
Others ???
There are many other translation services, like Copilot of Bing AI, ELRA CATALOG, etc.
Copilot of Bing AI is highly irregular for Meitei language. Sometimes, it uses Bengali script, and sometimes, in Meitei script, and sometimes in Latin script, and sometimes completely fails to translate. What you need to do is to say “Translate the following into Manipuri : … … …” and type your sentence or word in English. For reverse, that is from Manipuri to English, it seems to be not functioning as of mid 2024.
If it is to be rated, then it will have 2 out of 5 points.
So, this is just an overview of some of the most widely used machine translation apps and webs for Meitei language. The ratings are my personal opinion, based on my observations and might be different from others. Hope this small piece of information will help the language enthusiasts, learners and students of Meitei language to some extent. Cheers! :-)
