There is a nice article on the Eurolang news service highlighting a number of digital devices now available in minority languages – Out now! The first Irish language mobile phone, TomToms in Basque and iPhones in Catalan.
One of the things which caught my eye was the use of the phrase “digitally challenged languages”, which included the Welsh language.
I am not entirely sure I like the phrase “digitally challenged” as it has echoes of jokingly referring to short people as “vertically challenged”, but the concept is certainly a useful alternative to “digitally excluded”.
The stories themselves illustrate a nice range of different approaches towards minority languages by technology manufacturers.
Samsung have launched a high end mobile phone featuring an Irish language interface and T9. They see this as a important route into the mobile phone market in Ireland.
Apple by contrast have refused to make their iPhone available in Catalan, so language activists have developed their own interface software which turns the menus into Catalan and is available pre-installed on the iPhone.
The Basque TomTom is also the product of volunteer effort, though it isn’t clear whether the manufacturers in any way supported or resisted the development.
The relationship between market forces and minority language provision continues to be a complex and problematic one.
