Catalan at the Mobile World Congress
Catalan is notably absent from the Mobile World Congress, despite efforts to promote its presence in the technological and digital sphere. The initiatives that highlight the presence of Catalan are limited, such as ABControl’s voice assistant, which has developed a tool for using Catalan with Alexa, and Relisten, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to write information in medical consultations.
The need to promote Catalan
Despite the recognition of the right of consumers to receive information in Catalan according to the Consumer Code, in the digital sphere this presence is limited. Companies have the tool to incorporate more languages, but they often don’t use it due to lack of knowledge. Plataforma per la Llengua seeks to take advantage of events such as the Mobile World Congress to explain the Catalan-speaking reality and the opportunities this entails.
Multilingualism and artificial intelligence
The need to incorporate languages beyond English and Chinese is recognized in the field of artificial intelligence. The AINA project, in collaboration with the BSC, is working in this direction, facilitating the incorporation of Catalan in the machines. The Department of Culture highlighted the demand of Catalan consumers for the use of Catalan in services such as Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri.
Outstanding initiatives
This year, two initiatives stand out for incorporating Catalan through artificial intelligence. Hello Alexa, from AB Control, offers local information in Catalan through a voice system, mainly aimed at the media. Relisten, a tool developed by Recog, transcribes conversations between doctors and patients and is able to distinguish elements relevant to the clinical history in several languages, including Catalan.
The presence of Catalan in technology
Through initiatives such as Hola Alexa and Relisten, work is being done to incorporate Catalan into technology, although there are still challenges to overcome. The presence of Catalan in the Mobile World Congress signs and conferences is practically non-existent, although the need to take more initiatives to promote the presence of Catalan in this area is recognized.
