A European team of researchers, including scientists from University of Manchester, has concluded that digital assistance for 21 of the 30 languages investigated is 'non-existent' or 'weak' at best.

Last June we shared a story with you about Nicolas Ostler, a leading linguist, who postulated that machine or automated translation via hand-held devices like iPads and smartphones, will soon replace English as the world’s most dominant language.

Now a report by META-NET, a European network consisting of 60 research centers in 34 countries, including the University of Manchester's National Centre for Text Mining (NaCTeM), finds that languages spoken by a small number of people could be at risk because they do not have technological support.

The report coincides with the European Day of Languages (September 26), a day which recognizes the importance of fostering and developing the rich linguistic and cultural heritage of the European continent.

According to an article in Phys.org, “Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian and Maltese are at the highest risk of disappearing, while other languages such as Bulgarian, Greek, Hungarian and Polish are also at risk. The researchers claim that 21 out of 30 European languages could become extinct in the digital world.”

The study, prepared by more than 200 experts, assessed language technology support for each language in four different areas: automatic translation, speech interaction, text analysis and the availability of language resources.

The researchers found that while English has the best language technology support amongst all European languages, it can still not be considered as "excellent support", but rather only "good support".

Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish are considered to have "moderate support", while languages such as Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Greek, Hungarian and Polish exhibited "fragmentary support", also placing them in the set of high-risk languages.

What’s your take? Are you alarmed by such reports? Do you believe that mobile technology could actually play a role in the eventual extinction of currently spoken languages? Please post a comment and share your thoughts with us.

By Alex Dupont
Marketing Communications Specialist
Language Translation Inc.

See Also

• Machine translation is also known as automated or automatic language translation
  Raw machine translation may only be sufficient for communicating via social networks and video sharing sites, or for getting the gist of a foreign language website.
• Most European languages in danger of digital extinction
  Scientists from The University of Manchester were part of a European team of researchers who concluded that digital assistance for 21 of the 30 languages investigated is 'non-existent' or 'weak' at best.