BANGALORE, INDIA: Google today launched the Google Transliteration IME, a desktop application which allows users to enter text in one of the supported languages using a roman keyboard.

Users type the word the way it sounds using Latin characters and Google Transliteration IME would convert the word to its native script. This facility has been available on the web; Google Transliteration IME makes it available for the desktop across all applications, whether online or offline. 
 
Google Transliteration IME is available as a free download and offers several features focused on an improved user experience.  These features include: offline support, word completion, personalized choices, easy-to-use keyboard, quick search and several cool customization options, said a press release.

This tool was conceived and developed in India at Google’s Bangalore R&D Center and is currently available in 14 different languages - Arabic, Bengali, Farsi (Persian), Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

This application enables users to create content or communicate in their preferred language online or offline and in any application of their choice. The Google Transliteration IME currently supports Windows 7/Vista/XP.

“The IME transliteration technology is an innovation from Google India that furthers our corporate mission of making the world’s information universally assessable and useful.  We have extended this to several other international languages as well as we believe there is a huge global opportunity for this technology,” said Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, Senior Product Manager, Google India.

“Our IME enables Indian users whether they are businesses, students, or teachers to create content and communicate effectively in their local language. For example, a small business owner can create marketing material or email their consumers and suppliers in their local language and a teacher can create educational material such as question papers in their local language using Google’s IME.” he added.

Users can download the IME from: http://www.google.com/ime/transliteration/

Google Transliteration is also available in Gmail, orkut, Blogger, Knol and as a bookmarklet.  In addition any business or website owner can enable transliteration free of cost using the transliteration API.