Type in your language on any website

We launched our first transliteration application on Google India Labs two years ago: it let users type in Hindi using an english keyboard. Since then we've expanded our coverage to nine Indian languages (Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Tamil, and Telugu). We have also added the transliteration feature to several Google products such as Blogger, Knol, Orkut, Gmail and iGoogle. For other products, we released an API that lets 3rd party sites embed this technology at no charge. However, the most common user feedback we still receive is requests to add transliteration to even more products. We are actively working on simplifying the use of Indian languages on more websites.

With that in mind, we are happy to announce the launch of a new feature, Transliteration Bookmarklets, that will let you use transliteration on a website that does not support it currently. Transliteration Bookmarklets is a browser-based application that lets you type in your language in any text box on any website and gets added to your browser much like a regular bookmark.

For example, you can use them to:

• Chat with your friends in your language using Gmail chat.
• Search for Google news articles.
• Send messages in your language on your favorite social networks.
• Create or edit wikipedia pages in your language.

Once you install the bookmarklet on your favorite browser (we support Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari), you can simply turn transliteration on/off in the browser itself.

To get started, click on the links for one of our supported languages and follow the instructions on the page: Arabic, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. Alternatively, you can follow the links at http://code.google.com/p/t13n/.

Type away, and let us know what you think.

Posted by Sarveshwar Duddu, Software Engineer

Share your passion for Indian food through the Indian Cooking Knol-edge Contest!

Are you tempted to preserve your family recipes when you spot "Just like mother used to make" next to a delicious curry on a roadside dhaba menu? Do you have a unique take on chai or biryani that you want to share with the rest of the world? Here's your chance! Google is launching the Indian Cooking Knol-edge Contest to find the best recipe in five Indian languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam) based on the recent launch of Indic Transliteration on Knol. Indic Transliteration helps you type in Indian languages using an English keyboard. For example, you type Hindi words with English alphabets and the Hindi word that you've written with English alphabets will be converted into Hindi characters after you hit Space or Enter. For example, typing "aloo" in English transliterates into Hindi as आलू . Similarly, "urulakizhangu" becomes உருளைகிழங்கு in Tamil and ഉരുളകിഴങ്ങ് in Malayalam while "bangaladumpa" becomes ಬಂಗಳದುಮ್ಪ in Telugu and "aalugadde" becomes ಆಲುಗಡ್ಡೆ in Kannada.

Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, one of the most well-recognized faces of Indian cuisine, will be the judge of the contest. As the host of Khana Khazana, one of the longest running TV shows in the history of Indian television, he continues to share his love for cooking with millions. This contest is being run on Knol, which is a powerful new Google product that enables users to share their expert knowledge in a well-organized, easy manner and highlight their authorship of this content. Knol was born out of the recognition that we need a tool to unlock the incredible knowledge of millions of people that is not readily available on the web today. The launch of Indic Transliteration on Knol has further opened doors for more users to share high-quality content in Indian languages. By bringing both Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Knol together through this contest, we are offering users a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share their passion for Indian food and a chance at showcasing their culinary genius to the world. Prizes worth 150 USD for each winner and Google goodies for the next 40 shortlisted entrants won't hurt either!

For everything else you need to know about the contest from the steps for writing a Knol in Indian languages to the detailed rules and regulations, please visit the Indian Cooking Knol-edge Contest now.

Jayadev Vadakkanmarveettil, Consumer Operations Strategist and Rahul Roy-chowdhury, Product Manager