Coursera, the leading online learning platform, has announced that it has translated over 4,000 courses in Hindi using artificial intelligence (AI). This is a major step towards making high-quality education accessible to everyone, regardless of their language preference.
Why Hindi?
Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India, with over 528 million speakers. It is also one of the official languages of the country, along with English. However, most of the online courses available on Coursera and other platforms are in English, which limits the access and participation of many learners who are more comfortable in Hindi.
Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda said, “India’s ambition to become a $5-trillion economy depends on its ability to develop a skilled workforce and maximise its demographic dividend. Our goal is to make high-quality education available to everyone, no matter what language they speak, and today marks a big step towards that goal. We have used the power of AI to translate over 4,000 courses into Hindi, giving learners in India unprecedented access and flexibility to develop skills for the digital future.”
What courses are available in Hindi?
The courses that have been translated into Hindi cover a wide range of topics and domains, from data science and machine learning to business and personal development. Some of the most popular courses in India that are now available in Hindi are:
- Generative AI for Everyone from DeepLearning.AI
- The Science of Well-Being from Yale University
- Programming for Everybody from the University of Michigan
- What is Data Science? from IBM
- Financial Markets from Yale University
- Learning How to Learn from Deep Teaching Solutions
In addition, over 40 courses from top Indian educators like Introduction to Programming from BITS Pilani, Leadership Skills from IIM Ahmedabad, and Trading Basics from Indian School of Business will also be translated into 18 languages, including French, Spanish, German, and Thai, enabling India’s vision to become the global hub for education.
How does AI translation work?
Coursera has used a combination of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) techniques to translate the courses in Hindi. The process involves the following steps:
- Extracting the text content from the course materials, such as lecture videos, readings, quizzes, assignments, and discussion prompts.
- Translating the text content into Hindi using a neural machine translation (NMT) model that has been trained on large corpora of parallel texts in English and Hindi.
- Reviewing and editing the translated text by human experts to ensure accuracy, fluency, and cultural appropriateness.
- Integrating the translated text back into the course materials and making them available on the Coursera platform.
Coursera claims that its AI translation system can achieve high levels of quality and speed, while reducing the cost and time required for manual translation.
What are the benefits of learning in Hindi?
Learning in one’s native language can have many benefits for learners, such as:
- Increased comprehension and retention of the course content.
- Enhanced engagement and motivation to complete the course.
- Reduced cognitive load and mental fatigue caused by switching between languages.
- Improved confidence and self-efficacy in applying the learned skills.
- Greater sense of belonging and community with other learners who share the same language.
Coursera hopes that by offering courses in Hindi, it can reach millions of learners who have been previously underserved by online education and help them achieve their learning goals.
What are the future plans for Coursera in India?
Coursera has also launched some new features and initiatives in India to further enhance its online learning offerings. These include:
- GenAI Academy: A program that offers foundational literacy and executive education programs from top universities and companies, including Stanford Online, Vanderbilt, DeepLearning.AI, Google Cloud, and AWS. L&T is the first enterprise in India to launch Coursera’s GenAI Academy to provide structured digital literacy across its workforce.
- Coursera Coach (beta): A GenAI-powered virtual learning assistant that provides personalised feedback, answers questions, and summarises video lectures and resources. The coach will also support learners with interaction in the local language.
- Coursera Course Builder: An AI-powered course-building tool that will auto-generate content, including course structure, descriptions, readings, assignments, and glossaries. Companies and campuses can also use this feature for private authoring, using their internal experts to produce custom courses and blend them with recommended content from participating partners on Coursera.
Coursera has also expanded its partnerships in India, with a total of 140 enterprise customers in the country and 1,100 Coursera for Campus customers, including XLRI Jamshedpur, Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Alliance University, and Yenepoya University.
Coursera is committed to empowering learners and educators in India with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in the digital economy. With its new AI features and Hindi translations, Coursera aims to make online learning more accessible, personalised, and interactive for everyone.