Motorola phones will now include endangered languages ​​of Latin America

Motorola has added support for two new indigenous languages ​​spoken in Latin America as part of a larger effort to make the technology more accessible. Starting today, Kaingang and Nheengatu will be one of the language options available on Motorola Android devices. Any Motorola phone updated to Android 11 will be able to access not only its most expensive models, but also new language options.

“We believe that this initiative will raise awareness of language revitalization, affecting not only the communities we are working with directly, but we are currently in the process of opening all the data in that language from Android in Unicode , “Motorola’s Executive Director for Janine Global Software Oliveira said in an interview The Reporter Door. “And by doing this we believe that we are going to pave the way for adding more endangered indigenous languages, not only on Android, but on other smartphones as well.”

The Cayang language comes from an agricultural community of people in southeastern Brazil, and about half of the communities still speak it, found Motorola. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has named Cayang as “definitely endangered”. This means that children no longer learn it as their first language at home.

The Nhengtu community of about 20,000 people mostly resides in the Amazon, but around 6,000 people from the region still speak that language, so UNESCO considers Nhengtu to be “severely distressed”. She is Second most serious category Before a language is considered “extinct”. If UNESCO is seriously endangered by grandparents and older generations, it cannot speak it among themselves or among children.

Both indigenous communities rely heavily on mobile technology. Even if they do not always have reliable Internet access, said Juliana Ribelto. Globalization manager and head linguist at Motorola’s mobile business group. “Teachers have used their mobile phones in their classroom to teach their curriculum, so now the phones will be in Kaingang and Nheengatu, it will really help the learning process,” she said.Kayang welcome screen on Motorola. Picture: Motorola

It is understandable that Motorola’s focus is on Brazil: as In February it was 21 percent Market share among smartphone makers in the country is ahead of Apple and second only to Samsung. Ribelto acknowledges that by incorporating indigenous languages ​​into his system, a large return on investment is not necessary for Motorola; The move is unlikely to add large numbers of new users to its products.

“We know that for most people this drop down menu will be just one more language, but for those who speak that language, it is a big innovation. This is part of our larger mindset about digital inclusion, ”she said.

Ribelto said that it was his colleague Robert Mello, the lead of Motorola’s internationalization, who first realized that Latin American indigenous languages ​​were not represented in any form of digital technology. “We started researching ways that Motorola can change that story,” she said.

The company partnered with the University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil and worked with Professor Wilmer D’Angelis, a researcher in cultural anthropology and indigenous languages. Rebelto said, “He has devoted his life, more than 40 years, to research on languages, and he has proved instrumental in narrowing the company to those who will choose indigenous languages.”

Motorola’s linguistics team worked with native language speakers of both languages ​​throughout the project. Which meant training them on the company’s tools and practice on a multinational schedule. “We had to send Lenovo PCs to communities where mail was barely available,” Oliveira said.

But native speakers were eager to help, Ribelto said. A woman who was the translator on the project tell him that she could not wait for the languages ​​to be available over the phone. “Now she has all the arguments she needs to convince her child to learn their native language. Because it will be On the phone they use every day. “

Nheengatu speaker Ozias Yaguarê Yamã Glória de Oliveira Aripunãguá worked with Motorola on the project. Emphasized the cultural significance of the language. “You should understand that over time, Nanhengtu is becoming more and more vulnerable, and today, many times. Due to discrimination against language, people are ashamed to use it.” He said in an email. said in The Reporter Door.

“But you can’t talk about Amazon without talking about Nhengtu because the two are connect … It’s part of the essence, it’s the origin. The soul of the Amazon is Nhengatu,” he said. Of the fish. Seventy percent of the names are nhengtu names. And 50 to 60 percent of city and river names are nhengtu names, Yagura said. “There’s no way to talk about one without talking about the other.”

The team plans to open all sources of data collected as part of this project. Any source of hundreds of UI strings. To anyone using or researching Amazon languages, not only on Android. But Also on other platforms. He had to adapt a keyboard and was working with Google on the process of incorporating languages ​​into the G-board.

“We don’t intend to stop here,” said Renata Altenfeller, Motorola’s executive director for the brand. “We’re putting it as an open source. Because we really believe that there should be something for everyone to be involve in.” He said that more endanger languages ​​would be add to the project, he had not yet decide which ones.

Rebelto said that by digitizing the endangered languages. The company hoped to attract more attention to them and inspire other technology companies to take similar initiatives. The Motorola project, he said, “will allow technology to have its rightful place in preserving not only the language. But also their traditions, their culture and their story.”

Correction March 25th 10:55 AM ET: An earlier version of this article states that both endangered languages ​​are spoken in the Amazon. Nheengatu is spoken in the Amazon and Kaingang is spoke in southeastern Brazil. We regret the error.