Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa Added to Google Translate

Google has added Nigeria's three main languages to its Google Translate facility.

Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba have been made available on the free automatic language translation service, which uses state-of-the-art technology to translate written text from one language into another.

The languages were among the nine new languages, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa and from Asia, that were added. Both the web service and the Android app have been updated.

Other languages added were South African Zulu, Mongolian, Nepali, Punjabi, Maori, and Somali. The platform now contains 80 languages.

"Whether you're trekking to a new place or simply trying to communicate with someone who doesn't share a language with you, Google Translate can help you connect to new information and people," Goggle said.

"Great to see Google have added five more African languages," one user said.

Another wrote: "The fact that they have Igbo and Yoruba on Google Translate now just shows how much Nigerians are getting up there. I'm proud."

Google is also asking for volunteers to sign up to the Translate service to help improve its quality and expand the number of languages the system supports.