The history of the world is replete with languages that no longer exist. 90% of Native American tongues have no living speakers. The rest are all moribund. In our lifetimes we will see the end of Provençal and perhaps Basque. No one mourns these because all those who could mourn are gone. Whispers of these achievements - and language and culture are achievements - echo through history in borrowed words and phrases and accents in other languages but the death of a language is the death (or subsumation) of the culture that produced it. It is a great loss.
As the world got connected and far flung corners trade with each other over the internet, English has emerged as the Lingua Franca of planet of Earth. And any language that is not strong and being constantly rejuvenated will die.
We’re seeing this play out in India. The educated, elite GenZs were born into a digital global culture. Local language content isn’t cool enough. In mixed language marriages the children lose their connection with their mother tongues. And it has lead to the destruction of entire swathes of language - the children’s literature that is so important to keep language alive - has all but ceased production in many Indian languages. Where is the Indian Harry Potter?
And add to this the latest megaton destructor of languages - the LLM. No sooner had we solved the digital divide with cheap and easy Internet access for all that another comes along - the LLM. And it’s clear that languages that do not have LLMs will not have apps built for them. And this cuts off native speakers from the new paradigm emerging.
This is why I was very happy to take on Sarvam as a client. Sarvam and others like them who are building foundational models in Indian languages are performing a very important, civilisational level service.
Do take a look at their job postings below and apply if you’re a fit. This work is important.
As the world got connected and far flung corners trade with each other over the internet, English has emerged as the Lingua Franca of planet of Earth. And any language that is not strong and being constantly rejuvenated will die.
We’re seeing this play out in India. The educated, elite GenZs were born into a digital global culture. Local language content isn’t cool enough. In mixed language marriages the children lose their connection with their mother tongues. And it has lead to the destruction of entire swathes of language - the children’s literature that is so important to keep language alive - has all but ceased production in many Indian languages. Where is the Indian Harry Potter?
And add to this the latest megaton destructor of languages - the LLM. No sooner had we solved the digital divide with cheap and easy Internet access for all that another comes along - the LLM. And it’s clear that languages that do not have LLMs will not have apps built for them. And this cuts off native speakers from the new paradigm emerging.
This is why I was very happy to take on Sarvam as a client. Sarvam and others like them who are building foundational models in Indian languages are performing a very important, civilisational level service.
Do take a look at their job postings below and apply if you’re a fit. This work is important.