Google’s NotebookLM Audio Feature Now Supports Over 50 Languages

Google on Tuesday announced that NotebookLM has expanded its Audio Overviews feature to support over 50 languages. 

Launched in September last year, NotebookLM is built on Google’s Gemini 1.5 model and has taken over the internet due to its unique use cases in content generation, including its realistic voice and summarisation capabilities. Last week, Google introduced new features to the product. 

With Gemini's native audio support, users can now access these audio overviews in languages ranging from Afrikaans to Hindi and Turkish. 

The feature allows users to generate Audio Overviews in their preferred language, with an "Output Language" option available in settings. This update enables the seamless creation of multilingual content, aiding in accessibility and the development of study materials. For example, teachers can share resources in multiple languages, allowing students to access the content in their preferred language, thereby enhancing their learning experiences.

The languages available include Afrikaans, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Bengali, Catalan, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, Spanish (European, Latin American, Mexican), Estonian, Basque, Persian, Finnish, Filipino, French (European), French (Canadian), Galician, Gujarati, Hindi, Croatian, Haitian Creole, Hungarian, Armenian, Indonesian, Icelandic, Italian, Hebrew, and Japanese, among others.

This update builds on NotebookLM's global reach, which has expanded to over 200 countries. In December last, NotebookLM creator Raiza Martin, along with other colleagues, left Google to start their new startup. 

Many in the industry even touted this as Google’s ChatGPT moment. In a podcast, Martin remarked how ChatGPT had been significant for her, so the comparison felt huge.

NotebookLM started as an experiment by Google Labs in July 2023. Even the product team agreed that they did not anticipate the success of its tool. But later, the “experiment” label was removed, and it transitioned into fully developed software within the Google community.