57: Making machines learn Fon and other African languages - Interview with Masakhane
When you see something on social media in a language you don\u2019t read, it\u2019s really handy to have a quick and good-enough \u201cclick to translate\u201d option. But despite the fact that 2000 of the world\u2019s languages are African, machine translation and other language tech tools don\u2019t yet exist for most of them. \n\nIn this episode, your host Gretchen McCulloch interviews Jade Abbott and Bonaventure Dossou of Masakhane, a grassroots organisation whose mission is to strengthen and spur Natural Language Processing research in African languages, for Africans, by Africans. We talk about how they started working on language tech, Bona\u2019s machine translator in Fon, and alternative models of participatory research and collective co-authorship. \n\nAnnouncements:\n\nThis month\u2019s bonus episode is about the linguistics of Pok\xe9mon names! Which sounds cuter, a Pikachu or a Charmander? Which sounds like it would be more likely to win in a fight, a Squirtle or a Blastoise? Even if you're not familiar with these pocket monsters, or if you're encountering new Pok\xe9mon you haven't heard of before, you might still have a vague sense of which names sound big or small, cuddly or powerful. This has lead to the creation of the delightful and entirely real linguistic subfield of Pok\xe9monastics. https://www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm\n\nJoin us on Patreon to learn more, and get access to 51 other bonus episodes! You\u2019ll also get access to our Discord server, where you can chat about your favourite Pok\xe9mon names with other language nerds! https://www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm\n\n Here are the links mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/654293595359182848/lingthusiasm-episode-57-making-machines-learn-fon