Apple’s iPhone is amongst those devices with poor support for Icelandic

A computerised English-speaking voice could be heard whilst the Alþingi was in session today, the Day of the Icelandic Tongue. MP Helgi Hjörvar, member of Samfylkingin, took his mobile phone up to the speakers’ stand and and demonstrated the voice before parliament, to highlight the fact that it only speaks English.

Helgi said that Iceland has been slow to develop voice technology and the latest devices do not support the Icelandic language. He also said that new voice control technologies for Icelandic have not been developed, and that such technologies will not be developed without the appropriate funding.

“If the devices and the technology demand that we speak English to them and they speak English back to the younger generations, then it will of course recoil on our warm beloved language,” Helgi said, and urged the matter to be prioritised.

Every year the Day of the Icelandic Tongue is celebrated on the 16th November. Amongst events that took place today were the introduction of new computer voices for Icelandic (perhaps unbeknownst to Helgi), and the launch of ISLEX (Icelandic), a new Icelandic-Scandinavian online dictionary. The new voices can be heard in a video on Morgunblaðið’s website and have been produced by Polish company Ivona.

Source: mbl.is
Image: Apple