SPH Media launches multilingual editions of key news titles

[SINGAPORE] SPH Media is making content across its newsrooms accessible to more Singaporeans through artificial intelligence-powered translations that will allow them to discover a wider range of stories, insights and perspectives previously available only in other languages.

The initiative reflects the national news company’s ambition to bring Singapore’s diverse language communities closer together by enabling readers to better understand how others see the world, the issues that matter to them, and the perspectives that shape their communities, SPH Media said on Thursday (Nov 5).

It will progressively make its key news titles available in Singapore’s four official languages, which will allow readers to access stories in their preferred languages.

Through this initiative, English-language titles such as The Business Times and The Straits Times launched their Chinese editions in March and October.

Publications in vernacular languages, starting with Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao, are introducing English editions.

The English edition of Zaobao was launched on Thursday at the SPH Media auditorium, with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam present as guest of honour.

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SPH Media said the company adopts a tailored approach to AI translation, selecting models based on the language pairs, editorial requirements and needs of each publication, allowing the company to draw on the strengths of different technologies.

ST and BT use AI Singapore’s (AISG) SEA-LION large language model, which is designed to handle South-east Asian languages and cultural contexts to automate translation.

The English edition of Zaobao uses frontier AI translation models, with a team of copy editors reviewing selected translated content for cultural context and clarity before publication, SPH Media said.

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The news company said its multilingual initiative serves as a bridge to original stories produced by its journalists, while preserving the distinctive editorial identity, investigative focus and dedicated community coverage of each publication.

By bringing these stories and perspectives to readers across language barriers, it hopes to open up new perspectives to wider audiences, and foster greater understanding and appreciation of Singapore’s diverse communities.

SPH Media’s managing director Kuek Yu Chuang said: “Each of our newsrooms brings its own expertise, voice and understanding of the communities it serves. We want more people to benefit from that reporting, including readers who may not be familiar with the language in which a story was first published.

“By making more of these stories accessible across languages, we hope to help readers see issues from different perspectives and better understand one another. In a country with different languages and cultures, shared stories enrich the multicultural fabric that bind Singaporeans closely together.”

Wong Wei Kong, editor-in-chief of SPH’s English, Malay and Tamil Media Group, said: “ST and BT provide in-depth reporting and analysis about issues that matter to Singaporeans, from developments at home to major events shaping the region and the world.”

The Chinese editions, he said, enable the papers “to share that knowledge and expertise more widely, so that more readers can benefit from the work of our journalists, regardless of their preferred reading language”.

“We are grateful to AISG for its collaboration in bringing this initiative to life,” he added. “Its expertise in developing AI models for South-east Asian languages has been valuable in helping us make our journalism more accessible, and we look forward to continuing to work together to improve the quality of our translations.”

Lee Huay Leng, editor-in-chief of SPH’s Chinese Media Group, said: “We believe that English translations can help younger audiences discover and appreciate Zaobao’s journalism, including those who may not yet be comfortable reading complex articles in Chinese.

“We see this initiative not as a replacement for Chinese-language journalism, but as another way of bringing its value to a wider audience.”

Ng Siew Quan, chairman of Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, said the English edition of Zaobao will allow a wider swathe of readers, including non-Chinese readers and readers who might not be fluent in the Chinese language, to access its content and its understanding of the Chinese community.

He told ST: “Through such access, these readers would better understand the sentiments of the local Chinese community and perhaps be motivated to improve their command of the Chinese language or to learn more about aspects of local Chinese culture that interest them.” THE STRAITS TIMES