Information Technology University (ITU) of Lahore has developed Urdu-Hindi dictionary application which will translate any word of Urdu, Hindi, Arabic or English.
Urdu language feature was introduced in smartphones keyboard long ago, but it’s difficult to type in Urdu. This Data Science Lab’s (DSL) new application makes things simpler by allowing people to use Roman Urdu or Hindi for custom search. The app allows its users to translate from Roman Urdu to English, Roman Hindi to English and also English to Urdu, Hindi or Arabic. The translated words are given with synonym, definition and verbs. Director of DSL, Dr. Faisal Kamiran said,
“Due to its popularity, Roman Urdu and Roman Hindi is emerging as a language so the Urdu-Hindi Dictionary has a lot of potential. Our research is mainly about understanding this Roman Urdu text which is used very frequently in SMS, Facebook, Tweets and other forms of social media. It becomes a bit more complicated because there are several variations of the same word in Roman Urdu. The same word ‘kursi’ can also be written as kursee or even kurrsi.”
The application simplifies things by categorizing on the basis of fruits, vegetables, animals, professions etc. App also offers quizzes to retain users’ interest.
MIT Technology Review Pakistan stated that Citizen Feedback Monitoring Program (CFMP) is looking forward to incorporating the application in their infrastructure. CFMP is a Punjab Information Technology Board’s (PITB) initiative and it deals with the feedback from public to identify problem areas and then provide necessary assistance. Most of the time, the SMS are in Roman Urdu and it is a really time-consuming process to understand what a particular person is trying to convey. CFMP is investing millions of rupees annually in categorizing the responses. With the proper use of this application, CFMP would be able to work more effectively, saving time and cost.
Data Science Lab is a research lab at ITU which uses modern data mining, business analytics and decision support system. It is working on various government projects like Metro data analysis, Dengue Control etc.
The application is currently available on Google Play for download.
