SEOUL -- Papago, an artificial intelligence-based translation service created by South Korea's top portal site Naver, has incorporated Arabic in its range of supported languages. The web portal operator aims to upgrade its global capacity by adding one of the six most spoken languages in the world.
Papago now provides automatic text translation services in 16 languages, including Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and French. Users can also record their voices in their native language and receive translations in their target language through Papago's smartphone app. The solution also translates written text in images and videos captured by a camera.
Naver said in a statement on February 1 that Arabic was included in Papago targeting South Koreans visiting the Middle East and Arabic speakers in South Korea. Arabic is one of the United Nations' six official languages spoken by more than 400 million people every day.
"As there was consistent demand for the Arabic translation service, we will continue to upgrade our technology and services through user feedback to deliver high-quality translation," said Shin Jung-hwi, the executive director of Naver's cloud computing service wing. The company plans to secure additional data to learn the cultural nuances of languages.
As of January 2024, the translation platform had 19.9 million monthly active users. The service recorded a 25 percent year-on-year growth in the number of users outside South Korea, reaching 5.1 million. The adoption of Naver's Arabic service can help South Korean business operators in the Middle Eastern region. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's state visit to South Korea in 2022 resulted in the signing of about 26 memorandums of understanding worth $30 billion between entrepreneurs between the two nations.
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