Translating Facebook into Endangered Languages
Abstract: Facebook is an incredibly popular social networking site, with more than 900 million users as of March 2012. Many indigenous and minority language groups are turning to Facebook as a way for small and scattered speaker populations to connect with each other online. There are at least parti...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.258.5875 http://borel.slu.edu/pub/fel12.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract: Facebook is an incredibly popular social networking site, with more than 900 million users as of March 2012. Many indigenous and minority language groups are turning to Facebook as a way for small and scattered speaker populations to connect with each other online. There are at least partial translations of the site into about 100 languages, including several endangered languages, such as Irish, Northern Sámi, and Cherokee. Unfortunately, Facebook have not added any new languages to their official “Translation App ” in more than a year, and there are no signs that they will any time soon. I will discuss a technical solution to this problem, originally due to Neskie Manuel, that allows the site to be translated into any language, in the user’s browser, without the need for Facebook’s approval or cooperation. We have used this approach to provide new Facebook translations into 29 new languages in cooperation with native speakers. Social media and endangered languages Social media web sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ allow users to connect with one another, share content, and communicate online. Hundreds of language groups around the world have recognized the potential these sites have for their language revitalization efforts, both in terms of encouraging language use and sharing techniques across communities. Consider, for example, the Irish language, which is spoken as the everyday community language only in small areas |
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