The Linguist

@CIOL_Linguists What the papers say… "I Felt My Tongue Coming Alive": Learning a critically endangered Indigenous language is a small triumph, 14/7/24 The motivation couldn't be any more profound: Kooma, also known as Guwamu, is critically endangered… I travelled to Canberra to engage with some of the very limited resources available… In the days and months that followed, I felt my tongue coming alive. Slow, synaptic connections firing, activating the scores of muscles in my face, neck, lips, jaw and tongue, making the enunciation of Kooma words and phrases possible. I know I don't have it right yet. I know my grammar is rudimentary. But I am speaking, writing and more importantly thinking in Kooma nearly every day. 'Glasgow Airport Forced to Change Restaurant Sign after Embarrassing Gaelic Translation Error', 15/5/24 [The sign] translates into English as 'are you hungry?' – but is an Irish Gaelic phrase, not Scottish. Mr MacSween posted on X with an image of the sign: "Good morning @GLA_Airport, maybe don't just google your translations… Hire someone to translate it or even just try @LearnGaelicScot maybe." The latest from the languages world "To be British is to be multilingual" said writer Sophia Smith Galer in a fascinating article for the i newspaper on the importance of nations' Indigenous languages. And it is interesting to explore the way the state opening of Parliament reflects the reality of multilingual Britain in its most official state proceedings. MPs swear an oath of allegiance in order to serve, and the rules state that it must be taken in English first, and can be repeated in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic or Cornish. All six of Cornwall's MPs swore their oaths in Cornish. Equally symbolic were oaths in Welsh from the four Plaid Cymru MPs, and in Gaelic from Torcuil Crichton, the new MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Scotland's Western Isles). In protest at the requirement to pledge loyalty to the king, SDLP MP Claire Hanna from Northern Ireland made an additional statement in Irish and English. The glaring NEWS & EDITORIAL omission in the rules of Irish, and of other recognised regional and minority languages such as Scots, shows how inherently political such ceremonies are. Who can forget that Welsh was only allowed to be spoken in Westminster for the first time in 2018 (and then only in the Welsh Grand Committee)? Another interesting element is the presence of other languages hidden in plain sight. MPs can choose between a religious text or non- religious affirmation for their swearing-in ceremony. The religious books that can be used include various forms of the Bible (in several languages including Gaelic, Welsh and Hebrew), the Qur'an, the Sundar Gutka, the Torah, the Book of Mormon, the Zohar, the Dhammapada and the Bhagavad Gita. The latter was used by the outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in perhaps the most high-profile use of a non-English text. AUTUMN 2024 The Linguist 5 AI Industry Races to Adapt Chatbots to India's Many Languages, 23/6/24 The tools are aimed at fast-growing Indian industries, such as the country's large customer service and call centre sector. India has 22 official languages, with Hindi the most widespread, but researchers estimate the languages and dialects spoken by its 1.4bn people rise into the thousands. Google on Tuesday launched its Gemini AI assistant in nine Indian languages. Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant is available in 12 Indian languages. Languages in state © HOUSE OF COMMONS 15/5/24 (CC BY 3.0) Among the challenges facing the new UK government is the current state of the courts system, with people routinely waiting two years to be tried. One of the factors creating delays is the difficulty in providing consistently high-quality court interpreters. The issue was compounded this summer by problems with the introduction of a new interpreter booking system by thebigword, who are contracted to provide language services in courtrooms. CIOL's CEO John Worne co-authored a piece in The Law Gazette with Dr Diana Singureanu considering ways to "re-evaluate the impact of more than a decade of outsourcing interpreting services in the legal sector". It was a timely reminder of the key principles necessary for safe and effective language services in the justice system, as the government prepares its tender for a new contract, expected this autumn. Courts face interpreting issues

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