Google Translate has shelved its human feedback tool called Contribute. The Contribute feature allowed users to click a button to “improve this translation”, and write an alternative translation.

1. Google Translate has evolved
to improve translations
without human assistance.
Google Translate has shelved its
human feedback tool called
Contribute. The Contribute feature
allowed users to click a button to
“improve this translation”, and write
an alternative translation.
www.slator.com

2. When the feature launched in 2014,
Google said that Contribute would help
to “incorporate your corrections and
over time learn your language a little
better.”
www.slator.com
Google acknowledged the importance
of Contribute to the development of
Translate, saying “with your help, we’ve
been able to add new languages and
improvements over the years. Since
then, our systems have significantly
evolved, allowing us to phase out
Contribute.”
However, users can still send feedback
to Google, by rating the translation
“good” or “poor”, and selecting why a
translation may be poor from a select
list of options.

3. www.slator.com
Adam Bittlingmayer, CEO of ModelFront
and former Google Translate engineer,
told Slator that while “search, ads, videos
or social feeds [have] successfully used
human feedback loops at scale since the
2000s, […] so far, in translation, we’ve
failed to use human feedback despite
leading on model architecture.”
“The best feedback is incidental and
just built into how every user uses the
product”, he added.
The news has already generated some
concern with Google Translate
contributors. One volunteer, who
contributed to improving Fulfulde — a
Senegambian language spoken by
approximately 36.8 million people —
questioned if their efforts had gone to
waste alongside other under-
represented or long-tail languages in the
tool:

4. www.slator.com
“As of 23rd March 2024, the language has
reached a total of 52,600 contributions.
This shows that the language has many
dedicated people who are willing to
promote and revive it; they don’t want
their language to instinct”, added the
user.
Google has recently touted its
commitment to low-resource language
translation in a different setting. Google’s
AI Chief highlighted Gemini 1.5 Pro’s
success in “learning” Kalamang,
described as having “fewer than 200
speakers and therefore virtually no
presence on the web.”
Hat tip to the Search Engine Journal for
first covering the story.

5. Slator is the leading source of news
and research for the global
translation, localization, and
language technology industry. Our
Advisory practice is a trusted partner
to clients looking for independent
analysis. Headquartered in Zurich,
Slator has a presence in Asia,
Europe, and the US.
www.slator.com