There are over 6,000 languages in the world, but half of them are expected to diminish in the next century. That’s where Facebook’s plan for preserving endangered languages comes in.
To date, Facebook has added translation options for nine languages in danger of extinction, including Basque and Welsh. Seth Fiegerman, writer at CNN Money, describes how the social network is preserving endangered languages be helping them stay relevant for the new generation.
The translation efforts are made possible by crowdsourcing local communities as well as employing dedicated engineers to write code for each language variation. According to Iris Orriss, Director of Internalization and Localization at Facebook, “The mission for Facebook is to enable people to share and make the world more open and connected. Language is such a vital part of connectivity.”
Facebook recently announced the addition of Corsican, a romance language similar to Italian that has been classified “definitely endangered,” meaning children no longer learn it as a first language at home. The process involved a two-year campaign with 2,000 participants collaborating to translate words, symbols, and phrases. Facebook’s language settings now include 101 different options, allowing users from all over the world to cross the digital divide without leaving their culture behind.