Solving for Language Barriers

THE PROBLEM

India has 22 regional languages and is home to a total of 121 languages. These languages are further modified by the locals of every city. Mumbai, being the industrial hub, attracts a lot migrants from around the country who come there for better education, work opportunities or to eventually settle there.

The common problem I noticed wasn’t not fully understanding the language, but Mumbaikars (Mumbai locals) have their own take of the language in everyday communication and conversation. The words that evolved and became the so called “Mumbai specific words”

BRAINSTORMING SESSIONS

Through various brainstorming exercises, I tried getting to the root cause analysis of the problem of language and migration. By conducting ethnographic research, observations around the city and looking at existing solutions, the root cause of language barriers seemed to be “Everyday Communication.”

USER PERSONAS

I interviewed people who had moved to Mumbai for various reasons, but faced the same major challenge when came to language and communication.

JOURNEY MAPS

THE SOLUTION

Mumbai Lingo is a mobile app for migrants to help solve for language barriers.

The app allows users to surf through common phrases and words that locals in Mumbai use on a daily basis. The system can automatically store words the user has referred to or searched in the past. The scanning system would recognize and translate words in a photograph and the recording system would be able to identify words in the local language and translate it to the users desired language.