why language technology resources matter to welsh and other less-used languages

Corporate slide masterWith guidelines for corporate presentationsWelsh PPT template

The title slide of your Welsh language PowerPoint presentation should contain the Welsh Government logo and Welsh URL address as positioned here on the red template areas.

Do not alter the size or position of these areas.

You are NOT REQUIRED to put th branding on subsequent slides in your presentation

Welsh Government

Why language technology resources matter to Welsh and other less-used languages.

Gareth Morlais at LT-Innovate

Summit, Brussels18/05/2016

The case for generating language resources for less-used languages like Welsh

1. Makes it easier for big companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Nuance to offer services in our languages

2. So our language speakers can use voice as well as screens & keyboards in their interactions

3. Future-proof our languages and help protect them from ‘digital extinction’ by ensuring they’re still relevant and usable on mobile

The case for generating language resources for less-used languages like Welsh

1. Makes it easier for big companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Nuance to offer services in our languages

2. So our language speakers can use voice as well as screens & keyboards in their interactions

3. Future-proof our languages and help protect them from ‘digital extinction’ by ensuring they’re still relevant and usable on mobile

The case for generating language resources for less-used languages like Welsh

1. Makes it easier for big companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Nuance to offer services in our languages

2. So our language speakers can use voice as well as screens & keyboards in their interactions

3. Future-proof our languages and help protect them from ‘digital extinction’ by ensuring they’re still relevant and usable on mobile

How many languages do the big guns actually support..?

iaithrhyngwyneb Twitterinterfacelanguages

iaithrhyngwyneb Twitterinterfacelanguages

48

iaith chwilioGooglesearch langs

iaith chwilioGooglesearch langs

46

Apple Sirilanguages

Apple Sirilanguages20

Position in the league table of languages,ranked by numbers of speakers

• Catalan 87 (87th most spoken in the World)• Galician 122• Basque 159• Welsh 166• Irish 172• Breton 193• Scottish Gaelic 208

(Source: Wikimedia)

Number & position of Wikipedia articles

• Catalan 507k (17:steady)(17th higest number of Wiki articles)

• Galician 130k (46:falling)• Basque 246k (31:rising)• Welsh 69k (64:steady)• Irish 37k (88:falling)• Breton 58k (72:steady)• Scottish Gallic 13k (118:rising)

(http://wikistats.wmflabs.org/ Feb’16 accessed May’16)

Cynllun Gweithredu Technoleg a Chyfryngau Digidol Cymraeg

Welsh-language Technology and Digital Media Action Plan

Marchnata a chodi ymwybyddiaeth

Marketing and awareness raising

Ysgogi’r prif gwmnïau technoleg Motivating the main technology companies

Ysgogi datblygiad o becynnau meddalwedd a gwasanaethau digidol Cymraeg newydd

Encouraging the development of new Welsh-language software applications and digital services

Ysgogi creu, rhannu a defnyddio cynnwys digidol Cymraeg

Stimulating the creation, sharing and consumption of Welsh-language digital content

Cefnogi arfer da yn y sector cyhoeddus, y sector preifat a’r trydydd sector

Supporting good practice in the public, private and third sectors

Wishlist for Welsh

1. Speech to Text2. Better Machine Translation3. Virtual Personal Assistant

How we could work together

• Build ‘enablers’ with a crowdsourcing element, so language speakers can help build and improve their own resources (Speech to text: “which word do you hear?”)

• Semantic & ontology tools in more languages DBpedia, WordNet, etc

• Plug into European networks: feed into new initiatives & benefit from past ones

• More LT skills and training

Gareth Morlais May 2016gareth.morlais@cymru.gsi.gov.uk

Acknowledgements:Jeremy Evas (Cardiff University); Georg Rehm (Meta-Net); Delyth Prys & Dewi Bryn (Bangor University)Gareth Cardew-Richardson, Heledd Daniel, Iwan Evans, Jade Thomas-Rowlands (Welsh Government)

Corporate slide masterWith guidelines for corporate presentationsWelsh PPT template

The title slide of your Welsh language PowerPoint presentation should contain the Welsh Government logo and Welsh URL address as positioned here on the red template areas.

Do not alter the size or position of these areas.

You are NOT REQUIRED to put th branding on subsequent slides in your presentation

Welsh Government

Diolch | Thanks

Gareth Morlais