Addison Taylor
“I have stopped typing in Marathi”, said my quinquagenarian mother. “Composing words is very difficult”, she added. Accustomed to using a particular keyboard, my mother with an M.A. in Marathi said she has stopped using Marathi letters in texts due to the above-mentioned reason. I’m sure she’s not the only one. There has been a progressive decline in Marathi typing due to the simplicity and quickness typing in English provides, on which most keyboards are based these days.
This prompted me to search for an app online that would make my mother happy and typing in Marathi for her would be fun again. That is when I stumbled upon Bharat Keyboard’s Marathi Keyboard App on Play Store. The high reviews first caught my eye and wondered if it was really that good? The first time we download any app, there goes a bit of time getting to know the features and functions. But it was pretty straightforward ever since I opened the Keyboard’s app. Themes, language options, Stickers, Gifs, keyboard settings, everything organized in a proper manner. First impressions’ good but the main function of it was yet to be tested, by the one who was to use it.
So, as my mother sat on a chair on the balcony, taking a sip of coffee from her mug, I sat by her side and opened our chat on WhatsApp. It just took the next 15 minutes for her to fully understand the keyboard, how it worked, and say “Mast aahe haa keyboard!” (This keyboard is amazing). And it truly is made for the purpose. I have mentioned a few of the features that make it a must-have Marathi Typing keyboard for making your conversations fun, simple and dynamic.
Three Typing Options: The keyboard gives you three typing options. The first one is the Full Marathi keyboard if you want to type the message in Marathi letters themselves. But isn’t it what was time-consuming for my mother you would ask? The letters and maatras are arranged in such a way that is easy to find and composing words becomes faster. The second option is to type in English and the third option is the Manglish keyboard with English letters. You need to type the Marathi word in English letters and the Keyboard will convert it into Marathi in real-time using the AI. Word suggestions at the top of the keyboard make the process even simpler. What’s impressive is that you can switch between these options with just one click on the keyboard.
Shayaris/Quotes/Jokes: A feature that instantly brought a “Wow!” from my mother. The keyboard has ready-made Marathi quotes, shayaris, and jokes that are shareable instantly. The headings of these features depend on what keyboard was active hence there doesn’t arise any language barrier while using these.
Stickers/Avatars: My mother wasn’t aware of how to use stickers on WhatsApp until she saw this feature. One of the main reasons why the parent generation is unaware of it is because of the complexity of making it, not knowing how to use them, and lack of the ones that are relatable or in regional language. The Marathi Keyboard app gives the user ready-made stickers ranging from Greetings to movie dialogues; make words come to life with stickers. What makes this feature remarkable is the use of avatars? Scan your face, convert it to an avatar and the keyboard will replace most stickers with it. “Atta Majhi satakali” would make an impact
Speech to text: After a day of tiring work, it is difficult to even move your thumbs over the screen to type. In such a case, one turns up to voice messages. But the keyboard provides you with an option to speak and it converts your speech into Marathi text. That is the extent to which the Marathi Keyboard App helps the user engage in a playful conversation.
Notes/shortcuts: Feel the need to send the same thing to many people? You could copy-paste it from here to there but let the Marathi keyboard app have your back. You can store certain phrases or sentences on the keyboard, and simply click on them when you have opened the chat. This feature can also save you the time of typing a sentence that you often use, and instead use the ones in your keyboard notes.
The purpose of conversation can be many, but the essence is the clarity with which the message is delivered. If an app is a barrier in enjoying this essence, then it will no longer serve its purpose, right? That is exactly what the Marathi Keyboard app plans to end. The essence needs to be enhanced and Marathi typing online has never been easier with this app. The incident with my mother happened a couple of months ago. She now relinquishes her previous stance of not typing in Marathi and enjoys it even more now. Not only that, she goes about mentioning the keyboard to her friends and sisters too. When a Marathi keyboard for typing is able to bind people together, bringing the language alive in Maharashtrian chat groups, you know it is made from the heart.
