Facebook parent company Meta recently showed how the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool can translate between English and the Hokkien language. Its project required different, unusual development methods. That is because Hokkien is mainly a spoken language. It does not have a widely used written form.

Generally, developers of translation systems train AI models on very large amounts of written text in the target languages. This arms the system with many different language examples and combinations in an effort to produce the most correct results.

In general, AI-powered translation systems have improved greatly in recent years. It is now easier than ever to get translation help online or on devices to make international communication better. But one problem with such systems is that there are delays linked to the translation process. For example, when the system records spoken speech, the words are first converted into text and then translated by an AI system. Then, the translated words are converted back into speech so they can be heard.

The unusual part of the Meta project is that the development team did not have large amounts of Hokkien language text to feed into the AI system.

Hokkien is a dialect of Chinese. It is spoken by millions of people in Fujian Province and Taiwan. Additionally, it is also widely spoken in some areas in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Generally, families passed down the language throughout the generations.

Meta said it used several different methods to create the new system to translate to and from Hokkien and English. The team trained its AI models on written text examples from another version of Chinese, Mandarin, which is similar to Hokkien. In addition, Méta developers used an encoding tool designed to compare spoken Hokkien to similar English text. The team also worked closely with Hokkien speakers to make sure the results were correct.

The company said, however, that its Hokkien translation model is still a work in progress. It noted that the system is only able to translate one full sentence at a time at the moment.

Change is a natural part of language development. The words you like to use are probably a little different from those that your grandparents used when they were young. A study carried out by a British company found that the use of e-mail has had a bad influence on the standard of written English.

According to the research, computer users today are too busy to hit the “shift” buttons on their keyboards — e-mails are often written in lower case, that is to say, with no capital letters (大写字母) for names or the beginning of sentences. Spelling mistakes are generally accepted even in formal e-mails. And nouns are often used as verbs (e.g. Please bookmark this site).

With the development of the Internet, e-mail and mobile phone messages, a new language has developed within just a few years — we call it Weblish. The latest Oxford English Dictionary has included many new words showing the changes in our communication culture.

While some language experts are concerned about the future of English and want to do something, John Simpson, chief editor of the dictionary says,“The standards may be different now but it has certainly encouraged writing and communication, which means a faster development of language change. There are a large number of words that either come from the Internet or have been given new meanings by the Internet.”

“Looking up, I find the moon bright; Bowing, in homesickness I’m drowned.” When Ifeoma Gladys from Nigeria, first read the line from Li Bai’s Thoughts on a Tranquil Night, the girl felt the poet’s experiences and emotions (情感). “I can’t help but feel homesick,” said Gladys, 22, who is studying Chinese Language and Literature at Southwest University.

From then on, the Nigerian girl fell in love with ancient Chinese poetry. 【小题1】For example, in Li Bai’s poem Hard Is the Way of the World, Gladys felt the ambition and faith of tile poet. While reading Cao Cao’s A Short Song, she learned that life is short and thus we should let go of the difficulties we couldn’t overcome and value the present. 【小题2】In her eyes, it is how it can travel over the mountains and spread from the ancient past to the present, but never change its original intention, keeping its truth and emotional weight.

“This is what many popular novels and online articles are unable to do,” said the Nigerian girl. 【小题3】For example, Li Bai wrote, “Heaven has made us talents; we’re   not made in vain. A thousand gold coins spent, more will turn up again.” About 1,000 years later, Goethe, a German poet, would say something quite similar -【小题4】“Behind the beautiful poems, I discovered the wisdom of the Chinese people, the charm of Chinese culture, and the worldwide basis of Chinese culture as well,” said Gladys.

Now, the girl hopes to become a professional translator.【小题5】