Google drops TranslateGemma: Open-source translation just got a major upgrade
Google just launched TranslateGemma, a translation model offering open weights that could take on giants like ChatGPT's translation feature.
It comes in three sizes (4B, 12B, and 27B parameters), works from mobile to cloud, and covers 55 tested language pairs—plus support for hundreds more.
What makes TranslateGemma stand out?
TranslateGemma uses a smart two-step training process: first, supervised fine-tuning for accuracy; then reinforcement learning to boost fluency.
It's designed to lower errors across both popular and lesser-known languages.
Bonus: it can even translate text straight from images.
Where can you try it—and how does it perform?
You can access TranslateGemma on Kaggle, Hugging Face, Colab, and Vertex AI.
Google's tests show strong results across high-, mid-, and low-resource language pairs.
How does it compare with ChatGPT Translate?
Unlike ChatGPT's translation feature—which operates as a cloud-based service—TranslateGemma runs locally for better privacy and is designed to reduce errors across high-, mid-, and low-resource languages.
Both handle text-from-image translations well.
The tech behind the magic
TranslateGemma's unique training method reduces translation error rates compared with baseline Gemma models and includes reinforcement learning to boost fluency.