Are your devices set to Catalan?

1. Last week I attended the conference on the state of the Catalan language in the Catalan-speaking world. It consisted of two intense sessions of analysis aimed at capturing a snapshot of the linguistic reality in the Catalan Countries from different perspectives. At the IEC (Institute for Catalan Studies), there was as much knowledge as lament. Rigor and apprehension went hand in hand in many of the presentations. Therefore, when Albert Cuesta appeared to speak about "the opportunity of artificial intelligence" and said, To begin with, he was optimistic.All of us in attendance perked up. Cuesta is, besides being the best-informed journalist in the sector, a real pain in the neck. To put it more delicately, a stubborn man who, many years ago, managed to get us a Catalan version of Twitter and who, just this week, Seat and Cupra have announced that from 2026 onwards there will be two cars –Raval and Born– which will incorporate Catalan into their infotainment menus. A small step for the language, but a very significant one, after nine years of struggle by Cuesta, the first six of which he fought alone. Pressuring companies here or in Silicon Valley, with sound judgment, reasoned arguments, and persistence, ultimately pays off. When politics fails to intervene, global platforms and large corporations have no choice but to yield to linguistic and social logic.

2. The journalist which we have been fortunate enough to read in the ARA for fifteen years He gave an initial overview of the digital situation of Catalan, given that it is the ninth most spoken language in the European Union – around 10 million speakers. Well, while Catalan is the seventy-fifth most spoken language in the world, it ranks among the top twenty in its use on social media. In this respect, we are better off on screens than on the street. As Rajoy said:Catalans do things"And in this sector we've had driven and proactive people who have accomplished a great deal. For example, after English and German, the third Wikipedia registered in the world was in Catalan. The domain .catThe platform, which has been operating for twenty years, sets the standard for internet domains that are not country-specific but defined by language and culture. But the optimistic data isn't limited to history. This very month, and without any advertising, a milestone that seemed distant was achieved. Meta has begun speaking Catalan. Since December 2nd, we can interact with WhatsApp's AI in Catalan. Everything has moved very quickly since Google's AI began operating in Catalan in November. It not only understood it but was already writing it. However, Zuckerberg and company haven't acted to make it sensitive to Catalan, nor due to any kind of pressure. They are acting based on usage and the ripple effect within the long tail of non-hegemonic languages in which we find ourselves. Success and necessity, therefore, depend on us.

3. For example... It's estimated that there are 25 million personal devices in Catalan households, including mobile phones, computers, and tablets. However, only 5 million of these devices are configured in Catalan. This is the data that technology companies use to gauge the linguistic reality in the Principality. That's why it's important that we configure them in our language. To make it easy, the campaign Configure the devices in Catalan –backed by Accent Obert, Plataforma per la Llengua, Òmnium, and Softcatalà– provides video instructions for easily and conveniently changing your language. You can find it at Configura.cat. If I managed to get it working, having fallen into the digital divide, anyone can. I promise. It's worth it.