The Foreign Ministry on June 29 hailed Google Translate's recent addition of the Crimean Tatar language.
"Thank you to Google for this crucial initiative, which demonstrates that the rich linguistic & cultural heritage of Ukraine's indigenous people is valuable to the global community," the Foreign Ministry said on X.
The statement comes a few days after Google announced its "largest expansion" of its free online translation tool, Google Translate, which saw the addition of 110 new languages.
In addition to Crimean Tatar, Google has incorporated 12 languages of ethnic groups in Russia – which include Bashkir, Chechen, Udmurt, and Yakut. Tatar, a language used in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, was previously added in 2020.
Google says that the new language additions – which include Cantonese and Punjabi represent over 614 million speakers across the world.
The Ukrainian government has worked to preserve the Crimean Tatar language, endangered due to a declining number of speakers in Ukraine. Mass deportations and waves of repression of Crimean Tatars by both the Russian Empire and Soviet Union largely contributed to the decline.
Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 has worsened the trend. Crimean Tatars in their native peninsula continue to face brutal persecution and deportation by the Russian occupation regime.
Anastasiia Lapatina
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