Google search adds support for Hindi 'handwriting'

Global Internet search engine Google Wednesday unveiled a software tool enabling Indian netizens to search its encyclopaedic website by writing in Hindi (Devanagari) script.

"Instead of typing Hindi letters from an English keyboard, netizens can handwrite on screen what they want to search on our engine using our new Hindi tool, as the Internet can be used as easily as reading and writing in the vernacular," Google India said in a statement in Bangalore.

In its quest to get about 300 million more Indian users online, the company's geeks found that less than 10 percent of Internet usage was in Indian languages, while in the real world the remaining 90 percent of newspaper readers or television viewers were using the media in their respective mother tongue.

"Our innovative tool makes accessing Internet in Hindi simpler. Hindi-knowing netizens should be able to use their language in the digital world to read and write as easily as they do offline," an official said in the statement.

The software also enables Google users to search by scribbling Hindi words with a finger or stylus on any digital device screen.

The tool can also be accessed on a mobile browser at www.google.co.in. Once the feature is enabled, a user can activate the handwrite icon on the screen to write letters in Devanagari for words or content to be searched on the engine.

"The Hindi handwrite features have been a collaboration between our teams across Zurich, Mountain View and Bangalore. Our engineers are excited with the potential these methods of inputs have in India," the statement added.

Chrome users can use the feature on their desktops by getting the Google Input Tools extension.