Google Translate Gets Its 65th Language, Lao

Expanding the list of supported languages in Google Translate is hard since many are already included. Google is now adding the 65th, Lao or Laothian, the official language in Laos also spoken in surrounding areas, northeast Thailand in particular.

Google believes the quality of translations to and from Lao are enough to make it an officially supported language, but the quality is obviously not on par with some of the languages that have been supported for years. This why Google is labeling Lao support as an "alpha."

"While our Lao translations will be usable in some situations, like providing an English reader with the gist of an article written in Lao, they will fail in other situations where more precise translations are needed," Google wrote.

Which is why Google needs your help. The quality of translations will only improve if Google gobbles up more data on Lao translations. One way to do it is to simply provide better alternate translations in Google Translate. A much better data source are full translations, which can be included in the Google Translator Toolkit.