3 Bangla language-based software launched

Three Bangla language-based software driven by artificial intelligence have been launched marking the International Mother Language Day.

At the same time, a new Bengali font and Teletalk's e-SIM were also inaugurated.

State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak as the chief guest inaugurated the Bengali text to speech 'Uchcharan', Bengali speech to text 'Katha', Bengali OCR 'Borno’ and new Bengali font ‘Purna’ at an event organised at the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) auditorium in the capital on Wednesday (February 21).

Besides, he also inaugurated Teletalk Bangladesh Limited's e-SIM at the programme organized by the Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministry.

Addressing the event, Palak said, “The prevalence of Bengali language in technology is a historical event for the 35 crore Bengali-speaking people in the world. These three AI-based Bangla language software will add a new dimension to the development of Bengali language.”

He said, “The basis of Bengali identity lies in its linguistic identity. If the Bengali language does not get proper importance in socio-economic life, its strength will gradually weaken.”

Notable, ‘Uchcharan’ is a TTS (text to speech) software. The technology used to convert text into spoken words by a machine is called TTS applications. TTS can read text from any document or website. It can be read aloud to the visually impaired. The software has both male and female voices. Currently the software can be used from the address: read.bangla.gov.bd.

On the other hand, ‘Katha’ is Bengali voice typing software. Voice typing, or ‘speech to text’, is the technique of writing words on a computer through speaking. It can convert spoken Bengali words to text. The software can be used from the address: voice.bangla.gov.bd.

‘Borno’ is a Bengali OCR (optical character recognition). With the help of OCR, the text of non-editable computer documents can be converted into editable text. OCR is converting text from PDF or JPEG files to editable text. This ‘Borno’ OCR converts Bengali PDF or JPEG documents into text similar to word documents. The software can be used as a web application from the address: ocr.bangla.gov.bd.

The new Bengali font ‘Purna’ is a unique common Bengali unicode font designed and developed after identifying font related issues. This font is suitable for print and web use. The font has bold, italic variants in addition to normal versions. It can be downloaded from the address: https://bangla.gov.bd/fonts/.

Presided over by Bangladesh Computer Council Executive Director Ranjit Kumar, the event, among others, was also addressed by Post and Telecommunication Division Secretary Abu Hena Morshed Zaman, Information and Communication Technology Division Secretary Md Shamsul Arefin, BTRC Chairman Md Mohiuddin Ahmed and Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited Chairman Dr Shah Jahan Mahmud.