Birders in Maharashtra and Kerala can read a description of 300 species of birds found in their respective states in the local language, says Bird Count India | Photo: File photo
Now, birders across Maharashtra and Kerala can read the description of 300 species of birds found in their respective states in the local language, according to Bird Count India, the Indian bilingual bird identification app Merlin.
“India is a linguistically diverse country, and birdwatchers in India speak so many languages. However, most popular Indian bird identification books and websites are in English and target a small segment of the public. In an effort to bridge this gap, Bird Count India has launched the Merlin bird identification app in two Indian languages,” it said in a statement.
Cornell University in the US develops the Merlin application; They allow regional partners like Bird Count India to translate bird identification material into their preferred language.
In more languages
“Marathi and Malayalam are just the beginning of our translation project. We plan to collaborate with more NGOs from all states to launch bird identification descriptions in all regional languages,” says Praveen J., Bird Count India.
The Merlin app already supports regional language names of birds in six other South Asian languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Odia and Telugu.
“However, the names are not enough because the description of each bird is still in English. It is a bigger vision to make the best material for bird watchers in all Indian languages - accessible to all users through their smartphones. The same descriptions are also available on the eBird website and are displayed according to the user’s language preference,” the statement added.
“Language should never become an obstacle for our people to gain knowledge. With greater knowledge comes greater responsibility for conservation. I look forward to the introduction of Merlin bird identification Hindi text,” said Hakimuddin Saify, who maintains Merlin bird names in Hindi.