Latin America

Who to thank for Cebuano in Google Search

Victor Barreiro Jr.

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Who to thank for Cebuano in Google Search
Thank the members of LUDABI (Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya) for their work on creating a translation of Google Search

MANILA, Philippines – If you go to Google Philippines’ language options, you’ll find that you can use Tagalog and Cebuano as your native search language. Have you ever wondered who did the hard work of translating technology into Cebuano?

The effort to incorporate the Sinugboanon language in the Philippine version of Google Search took root in 2005, though it took more than 8 years to finally get the word out, so to speak.

It began in 2005 when Vincent Isles translated approximately 600 text strings Google wanted translated, with Cebuano linguists reviewing the work before sending it to Google on October 20, 2005.

Sadly, this initial project languished until such a time when it could be brought back – in 2011, when the translation process had to be repeated as the original number strings ballooned from 600 to 7,760 strings of text.

GOOGLE IN CEBUANO. The Cebuano language option on Google.com.ph.

Members of Cebu’s LUDABI (Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya) took the initiative to push the project forward, with representatives from several sectors – public service, academe, linguistics, law, education, technology, culture, and broadcast communication – joining in to help.

The translation team had a two-day workshop marathon in February 2012 where the members of the group, bringing along their individual language knowledge and experiences in addition to Cebuano dictionaries and a lot of enthusiasm, began to formulate the new translations.

It took more than two days, however, to complete the translation process. The project was completed some two months later, after team members Manuel Lino Faelnar, Jaq Siwala, Vincent Isles, Mary Joy Gonzales, Edessa Grace Uy, Elmer Montejo, Alvin Ybanez and Atty Cesar Kilaton continued working on the incomplete translations, reviewing the translated strings one by one. The completed work was submitted to Google on April 11, 2012.

Google member Tim Harvey worked with the team further to clear the way for the inclusion of Cebuano in the April 2013 release fo Google Search for the Philippines. This coincided with the release of Google translate.

The Sinugboanon community is still working on the project, now trying to improve the quality of Google Search in Cebuano and Google Translate as part of its work to restore and advance Sinugboanon in civic life. – Rappler.com

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Victor Barreiro Jr.

Victor Barreiro Jr is part of Rappler's Central Desk. An avid patron of role-playing games and science fiction and fantasy shows, he also yearns to do good in the world, and hopes his work with Rappler helps to increase the good that's out there.