Languages are vital carriers of culture, history and identity. However, nearly 40% of the world’s 7,000 languages are endangered. To highlight the crucial work of cultural communities and researchers dedicated to preserving languages around the world, we’re launching a new edition of Woolaroo, which now uses Gemini to provide more context.
First launched in 2021, Woolaroo is an AI experiment from Google Arts & Culture that lets you snap a photo and learn the words for your surroundings in 30 endangered languages. It was developed with global partners and their communities, who provided curated translation data and audio recordings to help make it accurate and interactive.
This year, we’re including 10 new languages from Africa, plus new languages from Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Scotland. Our partners have also created stories so you can learn more about their languages and communities, too.