Cree, like many other indigenous languages, uses syllabics rather than the Latin alphabet.
How can a company with 135,000 people working for it in 40 nations across the globe not find the resources to add Canada's most widely spoken Indigenous language?"Ĭree A close up of a proof from a freshly made Cree-language typeface. "Google Translate does offer Maori, the Indigenous language of New Zealand, which is spoken by only about 50,000 persons. "For me, it just doesn’t make sense," John told VOA. That petition has so far received nearly all the 7,500 signatures he had hoped for. So Johns started up an online petition urging Google to add Cree to its translation engine. He assumed he could rely on Google Translate for help.īut the app, which supports 109 languages, does not offer Cree or any of the other roughly 150 Indigenous languages spoken today in North America. Johns wanted his feather-caped superhero to speak English, French and Cree, a language spoken by more than 95,000 First Nations people in Canada.
#GOOGLE TRANSLATE APP LANGUAGES SERIES#
Graphic shows Cree-speaking comic book superhero Bill Wawaate ("Northern Lights"), featured in the "Citizen Canada" comic book series by Montreal designer/publisher Joseph Johns.