App’s the howay to learn it

TWO years ago we ran an April Fool’s story claiming a Geordie translation app had been launched.

But now a real “Geordify” has been built which can turn any web page into Tyneside patter.

The web app can be added into Google Chrome’s browser as an extension. When you click on the Geordify icon on your browser, all text is automatically translated into native Newcastle dialect.

That includes tweets, blogs and Facebook posts in 104 different languages. There is also a page where you can type in phrases and see the Geordie translation.

Geordify is the brain child of Anthony O’Neill, a 29-year-old coder from Hebburn.

He started building it a year ago as practice for a new tech job, and has added to it ever since.

Anthony said: “I made it with the programming language JavaScript, which powers many of the applications we use everyday.

“The process with Geordify is that it exists in the cloud and, when you send it a message, it runs an algorithm that finds any matching words in the Geordie dictionary and replaces those before sending back the ‘Geordified’ text.

“At first it was 100% for a laugh, especially when translating news articles or Twitter into Geordie, but now with the app you can translate 104 languages into Geordie so it does have the potential to be a useful tool.”