Windows 10 latest update brings Phonetic Indic keyboards in 10 Indian languages

Microsoft on Monday announced the release of smart Phonetic keyboards for 10 Indian languages in its May 2019 update (19H1) for Windows 10. The updated virtual keyboard learns from the behavior patterns and preferences of the user and accordingly offers individualized word suggestions in Indian languages, enhancing and improving accuracy of text input.

The keyboards are based on transliteration, and not translation, which means since they are based on natural pronunciation, users don’t need to separately learn to use them and simply start using them immediately. For instance, if you type ‘Bharat’ in Latin characters, the Phonetic keyboard will transliterate final output to भारत (Hindi), ভারত (Bengali), ભારત (Gujarati) or ਭਾਰਤ (Punjabi) depending on the target language. This has made it simple for users to input transliterated Indic text using the existing keyboards which traditionally have Latin characters inscribed on them.