Internet for everyone: Towards removing the language barrier for underrepresented languages on the internet.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT 

CENIA is working towards a pivotal contribution in making content available to anyone by extending the largest open-source translation engine to support 204 languages, including new low-resource languages and by developing and open-sourcing an associated online translation engine, which will be specially designed for language inclusivity. 

This novel online translation engine will be tested in four selected communities from Easter Island, where communities speak the Rapanui language, to South America, where three sub-languages of Mapuzungun are spoken.   Even though communities do have access to the Internet,  because of the language barrier they are often impeded from accessing relevant Internet knowledge and global communications, and even from accessing basic subjects such as healthcare and education is a challenge. 

WHY IS THIS PROJECT IMPORTANT? 

Despite having access to a mobile and broadband Internet connection, because of a language barrier, several people worldwide still cannot use the Internet to advance their culture and education, boost economic growth, and improve their well-being. Because of that, 20% of the world’s population still cannot access the Internet.  

While over 7,000 languages are spoken worldwide, the majority of languages are almost absent from the Internet. Thus, people who speak those sub-represented languages do not have access to timely and relevant content in their own language. By having free access to an open translator, they would be able to access content that was previously unavailable to them. Moreover, in the mid-to long-term, this tool is expected to encourage the creation of original and translated content by independent users in a wider variety of languages.  

This project has four communities and their languages as a target, but it is expected to serve as a guide for future initiatives which are working to extend the translator further and, as a result, add support for even more languages.