Bridging Dialects: Translating Standard Bangla to Regional Variants Using Neural Models

The Bangla language includes many regional dialects, adding to its cultural richness. The translation of Bangla Language into regional dialects presents a challenge due to significant variations in vocabulary, pronunciation, and sentence structure across regions like Chittagong, Sylhet, Barishal, Noakhali, and Mymensingh. These dialects, though vital to local identities, lack of representation in technological applications. This study addresses this gap by translating standard Bangla into these dialects using neural machine translation (NMT) models, including BanglaT5, mT5, and mBART50. The work is motivated by the need to preserve linguistic diversity and improve communication among dialect speakers. The models were fine-tuned using the "Vashantor" dataset, containing 32,500 sentences across various dialects, and evaluated through Character Error Rate (CER) and Word Error Rate (WER) metrics. BanglaT5 demonstrated superior performance with a CER of 12.3% and WER of 15.7%, highlighting its effectiveness in capturing dialectal nuances. The outcomes of this research contribute to the development of inclusive language technologies that support regional dialects and promote linguistic diversity.

Empowering Bengali Education with AI: Solving Bengali Math Word Problems through Transformer Models

Mathematical word problems (MWPs) involve the task of converting textual descriptions into mathematical equations. This poses a significant challenge in natural language processing, particularly for low-resource languages such as Bengali. This paper addresses this challenge by developing an innovative approach to solving Bengali MWPs using transformer-based models, including Basic Transformer, mT5, BanglaT5, and mBART50. To support this effort, the "PatiGonit" dataset was introduced, containing 10,000 Bengali math problems, and these models were fine-tuned to translate the word problems into equations accurately. The evaluation revealed that the mT5 model achieved the highest accuracy of 97.30%, demonstrating the effectiveness of transformer models in this domain. This research marks a significant step forward in Bengali natural language processing, offering valuable methodologies and resources for educational AI tools. By improving math education, it also supports the development of advanced problem-solving skills for Bengali-speaking students.