Language Identification Tools

 

Don't guess at an unknown language, use a language identification tool.Find the language of any document with free language identification tools. Correctly identifying foreign words is the first step to translating and understanding a text when corresponding with pen pals or business contacts from other countries. Free online websites and software you can download for computers offer efficient, fast and accurate language identification tools; they can also identify similar languages when dealing with uncommon dialects.Online Tool: Google Language DetectionThe free Google language detection tool is part of Google's online translation services which automatically translates any text which is typed or pasted into the empty box. The Google API software supports 57 languages including Yiddish, Welsh and Urdu and offers a variety of detection and translation services, such as searching for websites in specific languages and offering another blank box in which you paste or type the website address, or URL, to find the language. This is especially useful for sites which do not permit users to copy texts. Remember to use as large a portion of text as possible, since Google tells us,"The accuracy of the automatic language detection increases with the amount of text entered." Find the Google language detection tool by directing your browser to the Google homepage and selecting the "translate" option from the drop-down menu.Online Tool: What Language is ThisMore sophisticated and secure tools for recognizing foreign languages are also available online. For private correspondence and sensitive business documents, ''What Language is This" offers a service which does not send the text across the Internet, avoiding the chance it could be intercepted. Text detection all takes place within your Internet browser. To use this service, simply cut and paste, or type into the blank box a section of text and press the "Go" button for an instant identification of a language. Disadvantages of this service are a weakness in recognizing some Chinese pinyin script, although it does correctly identify Indic languages. The "What Language is This" tool supports 57 languages including Polish, Esperanto, Ukrainian, Arabic, Icelandic and Afrikaans.Desktop Tool: Polyglot 3000Polyglot is a user-friendly desktop based language recognition tool for computers using Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, XP, 2000, 2003, 2008, Vista, and Windows7 operating systems. This means it requires no Internet access to run. Supported languages number over 400 and include many less common ones, such as Sanskrit. The free download takes approximately five minutes, is available from their Website and requires 2.1 MB of free disk space. Custom setting include quick searches for common languages only. References Translation-Guide: Language Identification Andriod: Google Translate What Language Is This?: Home Lika Soft: Polyglot 3000 Google Translate: Help Google: Language Tools