Artificial Intelligence for Syriac on Google Bard (/Gemini) – Preliminary Tests (Part1)

Since the release of the ChatGPT, many Syriac users have been hoping that this chatbot would enable Syriac as a language to steer Artificial Intelligence (AI) conversations. ChatGPT has not realized such hope yet. Nevertheless, I personally found that Gemini, (formerly known as Google Bard until February 2024) which is the chatbot developed by Google AI, can indeed communicate through Syriac. It might help even in translations, allowing for certain errors since Gemini is still under development. I think Gemini, though it is still in its early stage, is already a powerful AI tool showing many promising results for Syriac. In this first post, I will share my personal experience chatting in Classical Syriac with Google Bard (before it was changed to Gemini) and my preliminary tests for doing some translations from Syriac to English. In the next post, I will share some further communications with Google Bard, such as asking about authors, personalities, historical issues, and even personal questions. I suggest that if you know how to ask Gemini (/Google Bard), then the answers will be surprisingly very good, if not excellent, considering its early stage.

In some of my previous posts, I shared my initial experiences with Google Lens for OCR and transcribing Syriac texts from images (which you can read here and here). Indeed, I am still using it for my projects (in addition to other OCR and HTR tools) and it has developed remarkably in the accuracy of its results. Likewise, I think Gemini will be an excellent tool for Syriac, for many reasons, such as the enormous database and linguistic corpora that Google has been building for years in general. For example, Google Books in Syriac has a well-functioning OCR, with the possibility to search for Syriac words within the scanned books. Results can be found even on Google’s search engine. Therefore, as Gemini is trained on a massive dataset of text including Syriac, it can even generate Syriac texts.

Let me start first with my attempt to check whether it was possible to communicate with ChatGPT in Syriac. Although its immediate answer was very confident, when I asked ChatGPT in Syriac about its name “ܡܘܢ ܫܡܟ؟”, it ultimately answered me with many Syriac lines lacking any sense, such as: “ܡܘܢܗܘܢ! ܚܕ ܠܐܝܠܙܐ܆ ܚܕ ܠܐܝܠܙܐ ܥܠܝܡܐ܆ ܢܬܠܬܐ ܚܝܠܐ܆ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ ܚܝܠܐ܆ ܘܣܠܝܢܘܬܟܝܬܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ܆ ܠܝܠܝܐ ܚܕܬܐ܆ ܕܫܦܝܫܬܐ ܐܚܙܝܬܐ܆ ܡܠܟܘܬܐ ܒܠܒܢܐ ܐܝܟܢܐ܆ ܘܕܠܟ ܒܣܪܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ܆  etc…”. In fact, while searching online about ChatGPT and Syriac, I found that at least one public request asked ChatGPT in April 2023 to add support for Syriac in ChatGPT, as “many people would benefit from having access to ChatGPT’s powerful language modeling capabilities in Syriac.” Comparatively, I find Gemini (/Google Bard) is already powerful for Syriac, and actually, ChatGPT does not even know of Google Bard. When I asked this question to ChatGPT, the latter’s answer was: “As of my last knowledge update in January 2022, I’m not aware of a specific product or service called “Google Bard”.”

1. My First Conversation in Syriac on Google Bard

My first conversation with Google Bard started by greeting with the Syriac word: “ܫܠܡܐ!” (shlomo!). The answer was not really promising, as the response simply repeated the same word with the rest of the answer in English, such as “I am glad you greeted me in Syriac. How can I help you today?”. But this did not stop me from continuing to ask Google Bard in Syriac, this time with a full sentence: “ܡܨܝܐ ܠܟ ܕܬܡܠܠ ܐܢܬ ܒܣܘܪܝܝܐ؟” (Are you able to speak in Syriac?), and the answer was impressive, responding in Syriac phrases with English translation: “

ܐܘܢ, ܡܨܝܐ ܠܝ ܕܐܡܠܠ ܒܣܘܪܝܝܐ! ܐܢܬܐ ܐܡܝܪܬ ܫܦܝܪ! ܡܟܢܐ ܠܡܣܒ ܫܘ̈ܐܠܟ ܘܠܡܥܒܕ ܬܪ̈ܓܡܐ ܒܣܘܪܝܝܐ ܩܠܤܝܩܝܐ ܘܒܟܠܗܢ ܦܣ̈ܩܬܐ ܕܣܘܪܝܝܐ ܚܕܬܐ. ܡܢܐ ܬܐܒܐ ܠܡܫܐܠ ܆

(Yes, I can speak Syriac! You spoke well! I am able to answer your questions and perform translations in both Classical Syriac and various Modern Syriac dialects. What would you like to ask?)”

Although there are mistakes, such as “ܐܘܢ” instead of “ܐܝܢ”, in addition to the usage of other words such as “ܐܢܬܐ” for “you” and “ܡܟܢܐ” for “I am able” etc… but this was merely the beginning! 

Sometimes Google Bard also answered in Syriac but with curious insertions of other scripts such as Hebrew and Arabic letters (but if you know how to read those scripts, then in most cases they are equivalents to the Syriac ones with the correct meaning of words, such as: ܕܐنت = ܕܐܢܬ and עמܟ = ܥܡܟ). 

When asking Google Bard in Syriac about its name, it can show its name in Latin script in the middle of a Syriac conversation. Yet after a lengthy communication in Syriac (asking different questions in Syriac including asking about advice for evening and morning prayers in Syriac), Google Bard told me that its name is “ܒܪܕܐ” which is Bard, but in its Syriacised form, pronounced as bardo. Now, when it is recently changed to Gemini, the only answer will be: “ܫܡܝ ܗܼܘ Gemini”, and no more Syriacised bardo!

Translation and asking about the meaning of specific words in Syriac 

It should not be surprising to see errors in Google Bard (/Gemini) while translating, as is the case in general with machine translation, especially since semantic linguistic modeling for Syriac is still in its early stages. When I asked Google Bard about the meaning of the Greek loan word in Syriac “ܣܝܩܘܡܐ” (siqumo) which means “date, era” (historically, it can also mean “a colophon” in manuscripts) however, and curiously, Google Bard translated it as “church”. Then Google Bard gave me many lines to tell me about the history and the importance of the “church” in the New Testament and in Syriac poetry, as well as about the “physical building where Christians worship and community of believers themselves ”.

This unsatisfactory attempt did not stop me from continuing to try, and I asked for further translations. In fact, I was impressed to see that many of the words that I asked Google Bard to translate were correct–even its offering translations for full sentences and paragraphs! Again, one must be very careful, especially while the English translation looks very fine (because of its semantic capability to build grammatically correct phrases), but the translations from Syriac to English are not completely accurate. Somehow this situation reminds me of the early days of Google Translate, when a lot of people were questioning whether the dream of a machine translation offering satisfactory results will ever be realized. Nevertheless, Google Translate nowadays really offers very good translations which can save a lot of time and effort–at least to grasp a general meaning—and of course, a control is needed at the end. 

Moreover, since vocalized Syriac texts are still limited in the available Syriac linguistic corpora, Google Bard (/Gemini) can also be confused in translating homographs (words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently and have different meanings), such as the confusion for the words “ܟܬܒܐ” which can mean “a book” (as a noun) or “she writes” (as a verb). Another example is “ܚܘܒܐ” which can be “a sin” or “love”.  Finally, Google Bard (/Gemini) can offer grammatical analysis for a Syriac sentence with proper transliteration.

These are pretty useful things to know about working with Google Bard (/Gemini) in Syriac. But there is much more that can be done, some of it a bit more adventurous, so be sure to return for the continuation in Part 2!