Wales's experience of bringing the Welsh language into the digital world is featured as a leading international example in a new UNESCO toolkit published today.
- Wales’s experience of developing and supporting bilingual technology used to develop new UNESCO toolkit.
- The toolkit provides practical guidance for supporting multilingual digital services.
- UNESCO is sharing Wales’s experience internationally to help other countries and communities strengthen the use of their languages in the digital world.
The Practical Toolkit for Supporting Multilingual Digital Services draws on Welsh expertise in building the Welsh language into websites, apps and public services. It adapts the Welsh Government's own Bilingual Technology Toolkit for an international audience, giving other nations practical guidance on doing the same, particularly those with lesser-resourced and Indigenous languages.
The toolkit forms part of UNESCO's International Decade of Indigenous Languages. Its publication recognises the Welsh Government's role in developing it, and Wales’ growing reputation as a world leader in language technology. As countries and communities look for ways to strengthen the use of their languages in the digital age, Wales is helping to shape the international conversation and providing a practical model that others can follow.
UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Mariya Gabriel, said:
Drawing on the Welsh Government’s experience integrating the Welsh language into digital platforms, this Practical Toolkit will help advance equitable digital participation for all, especially speakers of low-resource and Indigenous languages, supporting the objectives of the United Nations Global Digital Compact.
The Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, Anna Brychan, said:
The Welsh language belongs to us all, and it must have a strong place in the technologies people use every day.
Wales is increasingly recognised around the world for its efforts to support and promote the Welsh language, and for showing that our language can thrive as part of modern daily life.
I’m proud to that UNESCO is drawing on our experience and expertise and sharing it with governments and communities around the world. Seeing Wales helping other nations bring their own languages into the digital age shows the real difference we can make on the international stage.
As technology continues to evolve, it is important that smaller languages are not left behind. By sharing our experience, we can help support efforts to ensure more languages have a strong future in the digital age and are a natural part of how people communicate, learn and access services.
