WLGC: “Indigenous voices for us”

Worldwide, 4.7 billion people lack access to digital content and services in their language, and the rest of the world lacks access to the rich linguistic and cultural diversity embodied in these indigenous and other underrepresented communities. The urgency of addressing this disparity becomes more evident with the advent of generative AI technology. English and European languages dominate training data, leaving underrepresented languages further behind. However, localization professionals can do much to expand resources available in these languages by becoming aware of efforts already underway, analyzing the challenges unique to indigenous and other underrepresented languages, and recognizing the crucial role of digitization both in preserving the untapped wisdom of these cultures and expanding language access to speakers.

Hosted by Women in Localization Global Community and moderated by Ludmila Golovine, Global Community Volunteer and CEO of MasterWord Services, the discussion aims to raise awareness about the importance of digitization for indigenous and underrepresented languages, discuss unique challenges and opportunities it presents for communities, and engage diverse perspectives.

📅 Date: 25 Jan, 2024

⏰ Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM, Pacific time

🔗 Location: Online

Type of event: Panel Discussion

Moderated by Mila

Guests: Dr. Winston Scott, April Armijo, Marleen Julien, Inga Mikkelsen

Agenda

• • Intro of Women in Localization & Global Community
  • Introduction to the topic and the speakers
  • Panel Discussion
  • Q&A

This event will be hosted and moderated by the Events and Content team within Global Community of Women in Localization.

Panelists:

April Armijo of the Navajo Nation, the largest Federally recognized Indigenous Nation in the U.S., with 350,000 – 400,000 speakers, is an advocate for Indigenous communities in STEM and digital spaces. Director of Digital Media and Communications for AISES.

Marleen Julien, shares insights into the advancements of Haitian Creole, which, in collaboration with Meta, has progressed more than other Creole languages, but still faces significant challenges.

Dr. Winston Scott, leading the Mayan Languages Digitization and Preservation Project, aims to bring Mayan languages, comprising 22 languages with a 7 million speaker base, to the digital forefront, preserving the rich Mayan heritage.

Inga Mikkelsen, is a member of the Lule Sámi language community, which has an estimated 800-3,000 speakers.

🔴 This live event will be hosted on Zoom and it will be recorded. It’s free to attend but you have to register through Eventbrite so we can email you the Zoom login details.

The event is open to everyone but the recording will only be available to Women in Localization members.

📢📢📢 Not a member yet? Sign up here!

Membership is completely free and provides…

• Access to member-only content, such as recorded events, webinars and resources, our job board
• Discounts to events organized by our partner organizations
• Camaraderie, networking and support from our members worldwide
• …and much more! 🙂

If you find this event interesting, consider sharing with your friends and colleagues so they can register on Eventbrite. Everybody is welcome to attend the live event and join the wonderful W.L. community of 10,000+ localization professionals.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]

We hope you can join us!

Women in Localization Global Community