Language news
What is happening to the languages people actually speak: policy, schools, revival, and the technology arriving on top of them. Filed each morning at 7am London time, sources linked.
Policy
California courts raise interpreter pay, back video interpreting, pilot ASL generalists
The largest US court interpreter system is answering a shortage with contractors and screens rather than staff, while its staff interpreters, 42% fewer in 9 years in coastal Northern California, picketed the meeting.
Policy
Morocco pledges MAD 2bn fund to put official Amazigh into public services
Amazigh has been official since 2011, and earlier funding was due to reach MAD 1bn a year from 2025. The programme does not say whether the 2bn is annual or for the 2026-2031 term, so the annual coverage report is the test.
Education
Algeria bans foreign curricula in private schools, makes Arabic compulsory
The French programme has been the private-school route to French universities for thousands of families, so this is language policy with Paris in mind. Leaving out Tamazight, official under the constitution since 2016, shows which language the state means by sovereignty.
Policy
French prefect takes 3 more Basque communes to court over Basque recognition
The state now contests symbolic votes in 8 Basque communes, and Pau's court has suspended the first 5 under Article 2. Follows the 6 Oct Dufau-Molac bill to amend that article.
Tech
Ghana courts plan speech-to-text that translates Ga testimony into English
Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie told the Bar on 15 Oct that funding is being secured; current machines only capture the court interpreter's English. Follows Egypt's courtroom speech-to-text rollout filed 4 Oct.
Policy
Paraguay court halts sign-language interpreter credentials issued without testing
Paraguay's Law 6530/2020 says the state and Deaf organisations must accredit interpreters together. Courts are where a weak credential costs most, which is why the Deaf community wanted proper tests first.
Policy
Elections Québec sent Ungava voter notices in French only, citing language Charter
Elections Québec says the Charter of the French Language forced a French-only first mailing to 9 Cree and 14 Inuit communities, and its exemption requests were refused. It will survey voters and ask again before the next election.
Business
Japan Actors Union sets AI voice rules, with approval per dubbing language
Per-language approval turns AI dubbing into a rights negotiation for every market. The union of about 2,600 performers says Japan has no law protecting the voice and will lobby for one.
Tech
Netflix's Spike airs AI-dubbed Dutch with literal errors like 'Hier je gaat'
A top-10 children's series in the Netherlands shows AI dubbing reaching young audiences in a smaller language, with calques parents can hear. Netflix had not replied to RTL Nieuws.
Tech
Scotland funds AITEAL to record 500 hours of spoken Gaelic for AI
Lack of recorded speech is the main block on Gaelic transcription and translation tools. A community-run corpus from island speakers, with the data kept by a Gaelic organisation, is the piece those tools have been missing.
Education
Estonia drafts law making schools teach Võru, Setu and Mulgi on request of 10 pupils
Regional varieties get a school right that Russian and Ukrainian home languages already have. Teacher supply in small rural schools will decide how much it means.
Tech
India's tribal affairs ministry makes Adi Vaani its national tribal language repository
Adi Vaani, built by IIT Delhi, already translates 9 tribal languages and holds about 300 hours of speech data. Pooling dictionaries, primers and recordings on one platform, with communities keeping ownership, gives schools and researchers one place to start.
Tech
Baroness Campbell delivers Lords speech with AI voice clone
First AI-generated voice used in UK Parliament. The crossbench peer with spinal muscular atrophy spoke her own Health Bill words via an ElevenLabs clone after Lords Procedure Committee approval.
Revival
Osage Nation police search language homeschools mid-lesson for alleged Daposka property
After Chief Tillman closed Daposka Ahnkodapi, parents ran Zhinkazhin language lessons at home. ONPD searched mid-class for alleged school property; Congress voted nearly $4m to reopen, still unsigned.
Revival
Minneapolis fire threatens Minnesota's largest Dakota archives
A three-alarm fire on 11 October damaged the building housing Wicoie Nandagikaden and Minnesota's largest Dakota language archives. Elder audio on tapes and disks may be lost before digitisation finished.
Policy
Veracruz courts certify 30 Indigenous-language interpreters, first round in 15 years
Veracruz has 119 certified Indigenous-language interpreters but needs at least 300 for its courts and prosecutors' offices. The last certification round, about 15 years ago, produced only 7, mostly in Nahuatl.
Policy
Catalan Parliament demands plan to defend Catalan in schools against 25% Spanish rulings
The motion is not binding, and the governing PSC abstained on the schools point. The court interpreting clause ties language rights to how justice contractors perform, with cases due by 31 Jan 2027.
Policy
Ukraine law expands EU-language and indigenous school rights
The Verkhovna Rada passed bill 16119 on 12 Oct with 266 votes, allowing EU official and indigenous minority languages in schools alongside Ukrainian. Zelenskyy signed Law 5008-IX the same day. It addresses Hungary's veto of two EU accession clusters and excludes Russian.
Tech
DeepZang Tibetan language model to add dialects, offline use and live interpreting
A private Tibetan speech and translation model is moving into hospitals, tourist counters and pastoral areas, with a 50-device interpreting pilot in Lhasa in December.
Tech
IIIT Manipur launches Ishaan app for Manipuri, Bodo and northeast languages
Public, home-built machine translation for northeast Indian languages that global tools serve poorly, developed by six institutions under BHASHINI.
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