Breaking the spiral of silence for minority languages with an emoji — Last year, William J. Moner and I asked several hundred Irish people — mostly secondary and university students, and learners of Irish as a second language— about how they used the Irish language in social media. One of our findings is that many learners avoid using their language in public…

r12n Profile: Daniel Bogre Udell and Frederico Andrade of Wikitongues — This story originally appeared at r12n: technology and language revitalization. Wikitongues founders and directors Daniel Bogre Udell and Frederico Andrade have embraced an ambitious mission to document — and teach — every language in the world. And by “every language,” they really mean every language, including those estimated 3,000+ languages…

12 tips for free software localization for minoritized and indigenous languages — r12n recently published an article on the work of GunChleoc, project manager for the strategy game Widelands and free software localization expert. Here are her tips on how to start a localization initiative for a language of few speakers: 1. Translate free software. It is much easier to get your…

r12n profile: Free software localization with GunChleoc, Chieftain of Widelands — In the strategy game Widelands, the player begins as the chieftain of a small settlement. The player guides the development of the settlement from a single outpost building into a sprawling commercial empire. In many ways, Widelands resembles the game series The Settlers which first appeared in 1993. While the…

r12n Profile: Daniel Bogre Udell and Frederico Andrade of Wikitongues — Update: a version of this article has been republished by Global Voices, and translated into Español, Français, Italiano, and Português. Wikitongues founders and directors Daniel Bogre Udell and Frederico Andrade have embraced an ambitious mission to document — and teach — every language in the world. And by “every language,”…

r12n Profile: Marc Bogonovich of Openwords — Update: This story has been republished by Global Voices, and translated into বাংলা, Español, Português, and русский. Learning a language is a challenging endeavor. Digital technologies have been developed over the last several decades to aid the process, ranging from (probably) familiar platforms like Rosetta Stone to immersive virtual environments…

Names given to new concepts provide glimpses into history and culture. —

A Pirate Party takeover has been years in the making, and Icelanders have already embraced the Pirates’ brand of more direct democracy. Update 30 October 2016: The votes are in, and the Pirates came in third with 14.5% of the vote, a lower percentage than recent polls suggested. Voter turnout was a historic low. …

Designing mobile technology for indigenous and minority language users — Update: this story has been republished by Global Voices, where you can also read it in Italiano and Français. Last summer, an Irish woman named Caoimhe Ní Chathail sent her mobile phone company a tweet to let them know that she was having some trouble using their website. For months…