Ingush Committee Asks Major IT Companies to Support National Language by Providing Translation Function

Paul Goble

    Staunton, Apr. 14 – The Committee on Ingush Independence which does not seek that status but rather to be prepared for it should it come has called on major international IT companies to support the Ingush language by including it within the translation functions, an indication of just how important such functions are to non-Russian nations.

    In its appeal, the committee says “glalglay mott [the Ingush language] is not just a means of communication for the Ingush. It is what connects us without history and ancestors … It is something that we will cease to exist as a people if we do not have” (abn.org.ua/en/liberation-movements/digitalization-as-a-method-of-saving-the-ingush-language/).

    For its efforts to get Ingushetia ready for independence when and if it comes, the Committee has been declared an “undesirable” organization by the Russian government. (For that decision and background, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/05/moscow-declares-committee-of-ingush.html.)

    An increasing number of languages of the non-Russian nations within the current borders of the Russian Federation are now included in the translation function of many IT providers. But some are not, and the quality of these services varies widely. This Ingush action is a clear indication many of these peoples understand that being on such lists is critical.

    And for all people of good will everywhere who do not want to see the languages of these peoples and their survival as nations disappear, outcomes threatened by Putin’s broadscale attack on the non-Russians, this should be a call to action to demand that IT providers ensure that all such groups who want translation functions get them.