Linguistic View on the LangTech Industry
Linguistics is a very intricate area. Dealing with it requires linguists. Linguists aren’t merely language professionals. Instead, they are profound language science experts who know every aspect and nuance of a particular language. For instance, they would know the roots of a specific language, the words in it, etc.
Integrating a language in a particular technology and ensuring its accuracy are two separate facets. Many applications, platforms, etc., support various languages. But with many mistakes in them! Here, the linguistic view in lang tech comes into the picture. It involves enhancing the accuracy of languages on a particular technology platform to provide better linguistic experiences to users.
Let’s glance through it in this blog.
Why Do You Need Linguists in LangTech?
Ideally, linguists should be an essential part of LangTech. Why? As mentioned earlier, many platforms support local languages. Companies, too, are happy with it.
But if you delve into the minute details of language and the script support the platform provides, you might find many mistakes. Sometimes these mistakes are subtle. Many wouldn’t notice them. Even if they do, they wouldn’t mind living with it. But some, who know the language well and expect a better-localized experience, wouldn’t accept these errors, as it spoils the readability.
Linguists can play a pivotal role in this. With their impeccable language skills and expertise, they can examine every little detail of the language, identify them and suggest improvements, which would help enhance the reader’s experience. Let’s look at a couple of areas where having a linguist can help.
Local Language Spell Checks
Even today, many platforms only have English spell checks. They do not check to spell for other languages. For instance, they wouldn’t have a Hindi, Punjabi, or Marathi spell check. As a result, words in these languages often get misspelled. The platforms do not have regional language vocabulary and, therefore, no spell checks as well. These words (incorrectly spelled) are published in an erroneous form.
Integrating linguistics in lang technology to show regional language spelling mistakes can help enhance the localization experience. Users will be able to write words correctly and get to read higher quality and accurate text.
Script-Specific Errors
Script-specific errors are another set of challenges, or we’d say a roadblock to better localization. Every script comes with a specific requirement. At times, it is a very subtle one. If the involved platform doesn’t support the requirement, the result is poor formatting or readability issues.
Scripts like Devanagari have joint alphabets. Often, it is in this area that most mistakes happen. Suppose the platform does not support joint alphabets, the overall readability of the text would go down, and it could make it difficult for the reader to consume such content.
Linguistics is significant when it comes to dealing with languages and language technology. After all, quality matters. Linguists and linguistics focus on the quality aspect. Hence, they should be part of a company’s localization and LangTech endeavors. FidelSoftech can help. Our team of linguists and language technology experts works collaboratively to create high-quality and correct local language content for any platform. For details, please write to us at sales@fidelsoftech.com.
Ref. No – FB11221039