FIVE THINGS: ICELANDIC LANGUAGE AT RISK OF DYING

1 IT’S SNUBBED BY DIGITAL DEVICES

If you want to change the default language on your iPhone, you have many options to choose from, such as Turkish, Dutch and Catalan. If you speak Icelandic though, you’re out of luck. The same is true on many computers, and such voice-activated devices as televisions. Some people believe this could lessen the use of the Icelandic language, which is spoken by fewer than half a million people.

2 IT’S NOT THE ONLY ONE

“Many of the world’s 6,000 languages will not survive in a globalized digital information society,” the Multilingual Europe Technology Alliance said in a report stating Icelandic is one of the most endangered languages in the digital age. “It is estimated that at least 2,000 languages are doomed to extinction in the decades ahead.”

3 IT CONFUSES SIRI

Digital assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa “don’t understand the language,” reports Mashable. As well, “Vehicle GPS units stumble over Icelandic names for streets and highways.”

4 IT’S PRETTY OLD

Of course, the Icelandic language has done just fine for centuries without digital devices. The language was originally brought to what is Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries by settlers from western Norway. Given the island country’s remoteness, it “has remained relatively unchanged since the 12th century,” National Geographic reported.

5 ICELANDERS ARE WORRIED

Former Iceland president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir recently told AP that soon, “Icelandic will end up in the Latin bin.” Currently, the country’s Ministry of Education is estimating it will cost about $8.8 million to fund an openaccess database that will allow developers to incorporate Icelandic into digital devices.