Google on Thursday launched the Google Transliteration IME, a desktop application that it said allows users to type in 14 languages using a roman keyboard on any application with or without an internet connection.

"Users type the word the way it sounds using Latin Characters and Google Transliteration IME will convert the word to its native script", says the company.

The application is available for free download and offers features including offline support, word completion, personalised choices, easy-to-use keyboard, quick search and customisation options.

It supports languages including  Arabic, Bengali, Farsi (Persian), Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. It has been developed at Google’s India R&D centre.

The application presently runs on Windows 7/Vista/XP.

“Our IME enables Indian users whether they are businesses, students, or teachers to create content and communicate effectively in their local language", said Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, Senior Product Manager, Google India.