Language Acquisition Programs

For the 1.2 billion people who communicate using low-resource languages, #AI applications are often not locally relevant and in many cases, not even accessible.    A few days ago, Google rolled out 110 new languages to Google Translate, including a number of African and Indian local languages with the help of #AI (see more here: https://lnkd.in/e9aTxYzr ). And they are not alone. Masakhane, Lelapa AI., GhanaNLP, Indigenous in AI/ML,OpenAI, Lacuna Fund, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH FairForward and others are already contributing to making low-resource language data more widely available.    Even so, the opportunity to preserve and promote local languages by integrating them into the rapidly advancing #digital landscape remains largely unexplored.    At UNDP, we are working to make sure that no community is left behind in the #AI revolution. By collaborating with players across local ecosystems as equal partners, we can help preserve local languages and shape the development of AI to benefit everyone, everywhere.   Stay tuned and share in the comments if you know of similar or complementary efforts.

#AiDays2025 Round Table : #Community Sourcing for low resource languages In an era where AI is fast shaping the contours of our digital future, VISWAM.AI initiative stands as a timely and transformational one. Their mission to build community-sourced Large Language Models (LLMs), grounded in India’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity, is not just pioneering—it’s redefining how inclusive and ethical AI should be built. By anchoring their work in community participation, linguistic preservation, and ethical co-creation, Viswam.ai offers a people-first approach to AI—moving beyond data extraction to cultural stewardship. Their ambition to mobilize 1 lakh community interns to collect data from underrepresented geographies across India is both bold and brilliant. This isn’t just about building better AI—it’s about building equity, agency, and cultural resilience through AI. 1. Linguistic Equity by Design In India, where linguistic hegemony often privileges English and Hindi, AI systems risk reinforcing this imbalance. The solution? Intentional design. Allocate equal engineering and validation efforts to low-resource languages. Ethical AI must be built on informed consent, community ownership, and fair compensation—because data is not just input, it’s identity and heritage. 2. Decentralized Internship Model By decentralizing AI development, we bridge the urban-rural digital divide. This model should focus on: Capacity building through training in ethics and digital literacy Inclusivity by involving women, Dalit and Adivasi youth Localized platforms using mobile-first tools in native languages Partnerships with Swecha, local NGOs, and institutions serve as trust bridges to ensure mentorship and sustainability. 3. Tools for Low-Resource Languages Many Indian languages are oral-first, with complex dialects and sparse corpora. Community-driven solutions—like collecting voice datasets from folklore, and crowdsourcing annotation—are key. Elders, poets, and storytellers become linguistic technologists, preserving not just language but legacy. 4. Trust & Transparency Bias in AI is structural. To mitigate it: Include diverse dialects and accents in training Conduct bias testing and community validation Promote explainable AI with local language dashboards and storytelling What’s Next? A living white paper on ethics, governance, and technical guidelines A roadmap for the internship program, with toolkits and impact metrics Collaboration with literary and linguistic organizations to enrich model depth VISWAM.AI is planting seeds for an AI movement rooted in language justice, data sovereignty, and community wisdom. Let’s co-create systems that don’t just understand our languages—but respect our voices. DC* Chaitanya Chokkareddy Kiran Chandra Ramesh Loganathan Centific

This uni professor sold his startup for $25M. Instead of retiring, he built a free app for broke students—now used by 500M+ people and worth $22 BILLION. Here's how Luis von Ahn reinvented global education with AI: In 2009, Luis had what most founders dream of: → Tenure at Carnegie Mellon → A 8-figure exit (reCAPTCHA) While his bank account was winning, his spirit was restless. Growing up in Guatemala, he’d seen friends spend a month’s salary just to learn English. Now, sitting comfortably in a lecture hall post-exit, one question stuck: → “What if the next Luis von Ahn could learn—for free?” That question became Duolingo: A free, global classroom for people who’d never afford the seat he once had. In the last 3 years, they’ve quietly become the gold standard for AI education. Here’s a full breakdown of every major AI system they use: 1) Birdbrain: The AI that knows what you don’t In 2020, Duolingo gave everyone the same lesson path. Many users were bored. Some were overwhelmed or dropping off. So they built Birdbrain, a personalization engine that: • Spots your weak points • Predicts your performance • Adapts difficulty in real time Birdbrain scales tutoring across millions of students without increasing headcount. Users stay longer because lessons meet them where they are, and progress feels more motivating. 2) Duolingo Max: A chatbot that teaches Most learners never get to access real tutors. So in 2023, Duolingo partnered with OpenAI to build Duolingo Max – its premium-tier subscription: • Roleplay simulates real conversations • Explain My Answer gives real-time feedback • Video Call With Lily offers risk-free speaking practice Powered by GPT-4, Max solves the core issues: no tutor, poor feedback, fear of speaking. 3) Adventures: AI-Powered Immersion Duolingo users aced lessons but froze in real-life conversations. They knew the vocab and grammar but had nowhere to use it. So, Luis and his team built Adventures – a game-like world to practice language in real scenarios. • Book hotels • Order coffee • Clear immigration It’s fun, functional, and mimics the real world. 4) AI Content Engine: 10x content, without 10x headcount Duolingo has ~1,000 employees serving 21M+ daily users. As they grew, having human experts create every course became unsustainable. So, Luis' team built a prompt-based engine: → Designers create lesson templates → AI fills in the blanks → Humans approve the best ones This system has helped them launch 148+ courses in a year and boost productivity by 10x. — Duolingo embodies the definition of an AI-first company. Their playbook is simple: Ask better questions… → Where can we genuinely wow our users? → How can we improve the quality of life for our team? …and then use AI as the answer. Every system they built—Birdbrain, Max, Adventures, their content engine—was a response to a real, specific need. That's how the most powerful AI solutions come to life.

Taking Santhali Digital: What It Teaches Us About Language, Technology, and Learning A remarkable story is unfolding in the heart of eastern India, where coders, teachers, and grassroots educators are scripting a new future for one of India's oldest languages; Santhali. Having led a digital learning initiative in Jharkhand, I have seen firsthand how language sits at the heart of all meaningful education. It is not just a medium of instruction. It is a vessel of worldview, memory, and belonging. Yet it took over a hundred years since Ol Chiki’s creation for the script to find real traction in the digital world. Why? Because our digital infrastructures, Unicode standards, keyboards, operating systems, have been built without the multilingual, oral, and script-diverse realities of India in mind. What this movement around Santhali teaches us is clear: (i) Learning in one’s mother tongue builds not just comprehension, but confidence (ii) Community-led digital innovation is often more sustainable than top-down (iii) Edtech must support scripts like Ol Chiki to be truly inclusive interventions The future of education in India lies not in scaling uniformity, but in honoring multiplicity. When every child sees their language on a screen, they know they belong in the classroom and in the world. #Santhali #OlChiki #EdTech #LanguageJustice #Jharkhand #MultilingualEducation #DigitalInclusion #GrassrootsInnovation

ChatGPT პრომპტი ნებისმიერი ენის სასწავლად: “Be my language coach. Walk me through a quick 2-minute daily conversation, one step at a time.” → Real talk beats memorizing word lists. “Translate this sentence into English (ან თქვენთვის სასურველი ენა), test me on it in 3 different ways, and point out where I went wrong.” → Mistakes stick better when you understand them. “Role-play a chat at a coffee shop in London. Use casual slang and push me to respond naturally.” → Context builds confidence faster than flashcards. “Give me 10 phrases locals actually use today - with examples of when to say them.” → Fluency is about sounding authentic, not textbook-perfect. “Design a 15-minute routine mixing speaking, listening, and writing every day.” → Small daily reps beat random cramming. “Every 3 days, quiz me on what I’ve learned and focus extra on the stuff I keep missing.” → A system that adapts with you, not against you. #ალექსანდრეჩომახიძე

India doesn’t speak in one tongue. She sings in a thousand. Let’s nurture every note. When we speak of India, we don’t speak of one language, one region, or one culture. We speak of a civilization where every language is a heartbeat, every dialect a living memory. But recently, data revealed the government's allocation on Indian languages over the last 10 years. The differences are glaring. While some languages have received significant support, many — even those with ancient roots and crores of speakers — have barely been touched. This isn’t about pitting one language against another. This is a call for justice, for inclusion, for celebration of all voices. 🌾 Sanskrit is the mother of many Indian languages — it holds the spirit of our Vedas and Upanishads. 🕌 Urdu is the soul of poetry, resistance, and syncretic culture. 🪔 Hindi connects hearts across the Hindi belt and carries a diverse literary tradition. 🏹 Tamil is the world’s oldest living languages, is a treasure of Sangam literature and Dravidian philosophy. Telugu is the language of music, devotion, and classical dance. Kannada gave birth to Vachana Sahitya and reformist voices of equality. Sindhi, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani, Malayalam, Odia, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili, Assamese, Manipuri, and every other regional language — they each bring their own sacred song to the soul of Bharat. Yet, many of these languages are underfunded, undervalued, and under threat. If this continues, we risk losing not just words — but entire worlds. Let’s remember: A language is not just a tool of communication. It is identity, It is belonging, It is history, It is freedom. It is time for equal respect. Equal investment. Equal preservation. We must urge our governments, institutions, and people to: 1. Create equal opportunities for all Indian languages in education, media, and public life. 2. Invest in literary preservation, digitalization, and youth engagement. 3. Encourage bilingual and multilingual learning— not as a burden, but as a blessing. 4. Respect each language — big or small — because no voice is regional in a country like India. A nation that forgets its languages forgets its ancestors. But a nation that embraces its languages will always stay rooted, proud, and united. Let us stand — not for one language — but for all. Because India is not a single voice — she is a divine chorus. Let every child grow up proud of their mother tongue — whether it's Sanskrit or Santhali, Hindi or Haryanvi, Tamil or Tulu. Unity in diversity is not just a slogan. It is our sacred duty. #PromoteAllLanguages #IndianLanguagesMatter #UnityInDiversity #LinguisticEquality #BhashaPrem #MotherTongueMatters #SanskritToSanthali #DravidianLanguages #IndoAryanLanguages #VoiceOfIndia #OneNationManyVoices #CulturalHeritage #InclusiveIndia #LanguageIsIdentity #DigitalIndiaDeservesEveryLanguage

Language is more than communication. It is identity, culture, and heritage. India has over 700 tribal communities, speaking 461 languages and 71 distinct mother tongues. Among these, 82 are vulnerable and 42 are critically endangered. IIIT Hyderabad has taken a pioneering step with the Adi Vaani project, India’s first AI-powered translator for tribal languages. The beta version supports Santali, Mundari, Bhili, and Gondi. Native speakers helped refine the translations to ensure cultural authenticity. The project includes text-to-speech tools and translation systems between English, Hindi, and these tribal languages. It is designed to make educational, healthcare, and government resources accessible in low-resource languages. What excites me is how AI can go beyond enterprise or tech use cases. Here, it is preserving culture, enabling inclusion, and creating real impact at the grassroots level. . . . #AIforGood #DigitalInclusion #CulturalPreservation #TribalLanguages #AI #EdTech #Innovation #SocialImpact

When a university closes a language department, it sends a clear message that understanding other cultures isn’t a priority. That seeing the world from someone else’s perspective doesn’t matter. That speaking only one language is enough in a world that’s anything but monolingual. But the reality is that language education is not a luxury reserved for a select few. It’s one of the most practical, forward-thinking investments an institution can make. Students who study languages don’t just learn how to communicate - they learn how to notice. They pick up on nuance. They become attuned to different ways of thinking, problem-solving, negotiating and building relationships. In today’s workplaces - whether in business, diplomacy, science, health or the arts, that kind of cultural awareness is a serious advantage. And yet, year after year, we watch language departments shrink or disappear entirely. The justification is usually financial. But the cost of losing these programs goes far beyond budgets and spreadsheets. When you cut a language department, you limit what students are exposed to. You narrow their world. You make it harder for them to connect with the communities they’ll serve. You reduce their ability to collaborate internationally, to operate with empathy, to work in multilingual teams, or to genuinely understand the forces shaping global events. You also send a message to students from multilingual or heritage backgrounds that their languages - and by extension, their identities and cultures - are not worth valuing or studying. The impact goes further than that. Fewer students studying languages means fewer future teachers, fewer translators, fewer culturally competent professionals in multiple sectors. It’s a slow erosion of connection and understanding at a time when we need both more than ever. We say we want graduates who are adaptable, open-minded and globally aware. But if we don’t support the programs that help build those qualities, those are just words. Keeping language departments open isn’t about convention - it’s about relevance. It’s about equipping people to live and work in a world that is interconnected, multilingual and diverse. Let’s stop treating languages like an optional extra. They’re a core part of the future we all need to invest in and benefit from, and they elevate every field of human interaction.

When Communities Lead, Change Lasts For years, outsiders led the change. Then one village said... “Not anymore.” For years, Fatou’s village in Tambacounda, Senegal, had hosted visitors with clipboards and promises. Projects came. Projects went. Each began with good intentions and ended the moment the funding did. So when a new initiative arrived, the villagers were polite but skeptical. This one felt different. There were no long speeches. No handouts. Just a question: “What kind of future do you want to build?” That question changed everything. Through the Community Empowerment Program, held in Wolof and Pulaar, villagers began meeting twice a week beneath the acacia tree. At first, they discussed reading, writing, and basic health. Then they moved on to larger ideas, such as human rights, governance, and enterprise. They elected a Community Management Committee consisting of men and women trained to lead and sustain their own initiatives. And slowly, something shifted. Girls who once dropped out of school returned. Women pooled savings to start new markets. Men began to speak differently about their daughters’ futures. To coordinate across villages, committees used local radio and simple mobile phones to share lessons, updates, and collective goals. It wasn’t flashy technology, but it worked. In a matter of months, a cluster of villages had transformed into a self-organized learning network. No consultants. No dashboards. Just connection, powered by trust. By the program’s end, independent studies found: - 121 communities across Senegal had joined - 60% lower rates of domestic violence - 40% more women's participation in leadership When Fatou stood before her neighbors to close the final session, she smiled and said, “Before, people came to teach us. Now, we teach each other.” And in that moment, the ownership was unmistakable. The Lessons? 1️⃣ When communities design in their own language, set their own pace, and utilize simple technology to stay connected, support becomes an amplifier. 2️⃣ When data begins to flow from the ground up, through radio messages, meeting logs, or WhatsApp updates, measurement becomes meaning. 3️⃣ When change belongs to the people who live it, it doesn’t fade when the funding ends. Collaboration builds momentum. Ownership makes it last. Local ownership turns impact projects into movements, and movements into lasting systems. #ScalingImpact #LocalOwnership #CommunityEmpowerment #TechForGood #AfricaInnovation #SocialImpact

In 2023, a viral clip from the African Union went around social media where delegates casually switched between English, French, Arabic, #Swahili, and their own mother tongues during informal conversations, while the official proceedings ran through translators who struggled to keep up. #Africa is home to more languages than any other continent on Earth. Linguists estimate that over 2,000 living #languages are spoken across the continent, accounting for nearly 1/3rd of all languages worldwide. This is not a marginal fact of culture; it is a defining structural feature of #African society. In countries like #Nigeria, more than 500 languages coexist within one national border. #Cameroon has over 250, and #Tanzania functions daily with dozens, even though Swahili serves as a common language. This diversity exists because Africa did not flatten its #cultures into one dominant #linguistic system before modern borders arrived. Languages grew around rivers, forests, trade routes, kingdoms, and kinship systems. Colonial borders ignored this reality. Lines drawn in European capitals grouped hundreds of languages into single states, while splitting others across multiple countries. Instead of erasing linguistic #diversity, this intensified multilingualism. Today, it is normal for an African to speak 3-5 languages fluently: a mother tongue, a regional language, a national language, and often a global one. Yet this richness is often framed as a problem rather than an asset. Policy reports describe language diversity as a “barrier” to education, #governance, or economic integration. But the data tells a more nuanced story. Studies show that children learn faster and retain concepts better when early instruction happens in their mother tongue. Countries that integrate local languages into schooling see better literacy outcomes. Informal #trade networks across West & East Africa rely heavily on shared regional languages like #Hausa and Swahili. Trust moves faster when people speak in words that carry shared cultural meaning. The deeper issue is not that Africa has too many languages, but that modern institutions were designed as if it should have fewer. Governance systems, school curricula, and corporate structures were imported with assumptions of linguistic uniformity that do not match African reality. Africa’s linguistic diversity is not noise. It is compressed intelligence accumulated over thousands of years. As globalization accelerates, one language after another disappears every year, and Africa is not immune to this loss. But preserving languages is not about nostalgia. It is recognizing that diversity of speech reflects diversity of thought, and diversity of thought is resilience. In a world struggling with rigid systems and fragile monocultures, Africa’s many voices may not be a weakness at all. They may be a preview of how complex societies actually survive. 🔄️ Repost to your network to educate others.