Ladin on Your Phone: A Technological Leap for a Tiny Language

The Ladins, the oldest yet smallest linguistic group in South Tyrol with just around 30,000 speakers, have recently seen their language be embraced by modern technology. On June 4, a smartphone featuring a user interface in Ladin was unveiled in Balsan/Bozen/Bolzano. This project, a collaboration between the Lenovo Foundation, the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, and the Ladin Cultural Institute Micurá de Rü, involved translating 200,000 terms from English to Ladin. This massive effort was led by Paul Videsott, a professor of Romance Philology at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.

"Any initiative that promotes small languages is to be welcomed; it is crucial for preserving one's culture in the age of globalization," stated Giorgio Costabiei, President of the Association of Ladin Municipalities (Lia di Comuns Ladins), at the project's presentation. Paul Videsott echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the project's significance for the Ladin language. "It's right that languages and cultures receive the same attention as endangered animals and plants," he remarked. Creating the 200,000 terms required for the smartphone's interface necessitated the invention of new words and the redefinition of existing ones, marking a significant step in the language's development.

Motorola and the Lenovo Foundation have already developed smartphones for six indigenous languages worldwide, including those spoken in the Amazon, by the Cherokee in North America, and the Maori in New Zealand. The Ladin language is the first in Europe to benefit from this initiative aimed at preserving endangered minority languages. This effort aligns with Motorola's mission to provide smart technologies to everyone, fostering a more inclusive and connected future.

Motorola chose Ladin for its next project partly due to the availability of a reliable academic partner, the Ladin Department of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. The first challenge was to decide which of the five Ladin dialects to use. The Ladins inhabit five valleys around the Sella massif, with varying degrees of linguistic protection and rights. Despite an attempt to create a unified written language in the 1990s by Zurich-based Romanist Heinrich Schmid, this standardized version saw limited use due to fears of diluting local dialects. After consulting with major Ladin institutions, the Val Badia variant was selected for the project. Although the economic success of the Ladin smartphone for Motorola is uncertain, the cultural impact is undeniably positive.

Motorola, an American electronics company, was a key player in the mobile phone market until the mid-2000s. Acquired by Google in 2012 and later sold to the Chinese Lenovo Group in 2014, Motorola is now part of the world's largest personal computer provider. The Ladin language option is available on Motorola's new Edge-50 series and will be included in all future smartphones from the brand. This initiative not only enhances the visibility of the Ladin language but also underscores the potential of technology to support cultural preservation in an increasingly digital world.