International Conference

Language Technologies for All (LT4All):
Enabling Linguistic Diversity and Multilingualism Worldwide
in the framework ofthe 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages
4 - 6 December 2019
Sakriani Sakti1, Joseph Mariani2, Khalid Choukri3
1NAIST/RIKEN AIP (Japan), 2LIMSI-CNRS (France), 3ELRA/ELDA (France)
co-Chairs of LT4All 5-6 Decembre 2019

Organizing Committee

Organizing Committee (Day 2-3)
• Sakriani Sakti
Associate Professor NAIST/RIKEN AIP (Japan), ELRA-ISCA SIGUL Secretary• Joseph Mariani
Senior Researcher LIMSI-CNRS (France), Honorary President ELRA/ELDA (France)• Khalid Choukri
Secretary General European Language Resources Association (ELRA) (France)• Hélène Mazo
Communication Manager, European Language Resources Association (France)• Gilles Adda
Researcher, LIMSI-CNRS (France)• Irmgarda Kasinskaite-Buddeberg
Programme specialist, UNESCO (France)

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Introduction

Rationale• Language Technologies are now widely spreading in everyday life in manyapplications• But they still need more research• For more advanced applications• But also for better quality• And for more languages

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• Nowadays, 100-150 languages benefit from Language Technologies , withvery variable levels of quality• This represents only 2% of the more than 7,000 languages that are
spoken all over the world• So, what shall we do for the remaining 98% ?
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• The native speakers of those “under-resourced” languages are in a

disadvantaged situation.
• It creates a digital divide, and the corresponding languages are in dangerof digital extinction, if not complete extinction.

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• The challenge of multilingualism is twofold• Preserving the cultures and the associated native languages• Allowing for communication across languages

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My Credo

Language Technologies are mandatory to allow for multilingualism

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• Effect of Language Technologies is double• Languages that miss Language Technologies will be less and less used
• Vocal assistant, car navigation, computer game, emergency calls,…

• Languages that benefit from crosslingual technologies, such as MachineTranslation, will be more and more used
• Scientific papers: 96% of WoS in English

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Statement• Everyone should be able to have access to workable Language
Technologies in his/her “native language”, including “indigenouslanguage”

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Genesis• MAAYA, World Network for Linguistic Diversity• WSIS (Tunis, 2005), ELRA Contribution• Bamako International Forum on Multilingualism (2009)• International Symposium on Multilingualism in Cyberspace• Brasilia (2011) and Paris (2012)• Yakutsk International conference on Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace (2014)

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Genesis• Proposal to Unesco of a World Summit on Multilingualism (2016)

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Genesis• Late Indrajit Banerjee• Head of Knowledge Society Division at Unesco• Met at WSIS 2017
• International Year of Indigenous Languages 2019
• Contact with Irmgarda Kasinskaite-Buddeberg
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LT4All• Not a Summit, but an International Conference: LT4All• Not on the whole of Multilingualism, but on LT to support Multilingualism• Language Technologies for All• All languages, including Indigenous languages• All people, including Indigenous peoples

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Aim• Provide a Forum where representatives of• Language Policy makers: UNESCO, national and regional governments, NGOs, indigenous

communities and language users• Can meet
• Language Technology providers, from the private sector and academia, linguists and industrials,• from all over the world and address the various aspects dealing with the relationshipbetween technology and language• Including the Scientific, Technological, Linguistic, Economical and Political dimensions
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• Unusual type of conference• Call for Papers, paper selection, registration fees (often expensive), own funding
for travel and accommodation,…

• On invitation, free registration, offer coffee and meals, provide grants to those
who cannot afford travelling costs (often from countries remote from France)

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• Need for funds• Cover the organizational costs and the travel grants• Need for Sponsors• Warm thanks to our sponsors. We could not organize the conference withoutthem.

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Scientific Challenge• How can we enlarge the linguistic coverage of Language Technologies ?
• Present technologies based on Machine Learning• Huge amount of language resources• Systems evaluation• Same effort as for English ?
• Multilingual approach ?

• Language families ? Dialectal variants ?
• “Zero-resource approach” just as children learn language ?
• Languages convey the same meaning with different sounds, different words, different
syntax: how to process meaning ?
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Technical Program

Program Highlight• LT4All will explore the relationship between technologies and languages froma scientific, technical, cultural, linguistic, economical and political perspective.

• The role of modern technologies shall change from creating digital divide tocreating digital opportunities: preservation, communication and education

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Program Structure• 7 oral sessions (Room II):• a series of six or seven 10-minute Introductory Talks,• a 30 or 35-minute panel discussion, including the speakers as panelists.
• 100 posters and 60 papers from 50 different countries (submitted within a month)• 6 poster sessions on the various continents languages(Hall Ségur & Salles Miró)(1) Pacific, (2) European & Artic,(3) Latin America & the Carribbean,(4) African, (5) Asian, and(6) North America languages• Several booths and demos (Hall Ségur)LT4ALL22

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LT4All Program at a Glance• DAY 1: CONTEXT• Multilingualism for Building Knowledge Societies• DAY 2: ACHIEVEMENTS• Innovative, Scientific, and Infrastructural Aspects of Language Technologies• DAY 3: CHALLENGES• Addressing the Digital Divide and Multilingualism

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LT4All Program at a Glance (December 5th)
DAY 2: ACHIEVEMENTS
Innovative, Scientific, and Infrastructural Aspects of Language Technologies
09h00-10h30 Opening
10h30-11h00 Session Keynote1
11h00-11h30 Session P1: Pacific Languages Coffee BreakSession O5:11h30-13h00 Innovative aspects related to applications of Language Technologies in various areas, products and services
13h00-14h30 Session P2: European and Arctic Languages Lunch BreakSession O6:
Scientific aspects related to the state of the art in Language Technologies, for spoken, written and sign
14h30-16h15 languages
16h15-16h45 Session P3: Latin America and the Caribbean Languages Coffee BreakSession O7
16h45-18h15 Infrastructural aspects
18h30-20h30 Social event
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LT4All Program at a Glance (December 6th)
DAY 3: CHALLENGES
Addressing the Digital Divide and Multilingualism
08h00-09h00
09h00-09h30
09h30-11h00
11h00-11h30
11h30-13h00
13h00-14h30
14h30-16h00
16h00-16h30
16h30-17h30
17h30-18h30
18h30-18h45

Registration
Session Keynote 2
Session O8: Minority and Indigenous Languages
Session P5: African Languages Coffee BreakSession O9: Activities for language preservation, reclamation, and enhancement
Session P6: Asian Languages Lunch BreakSession O10: Scientific aspects related to handling language diversity
Session P7: USA and Canada Languages Coffee BreakSession O11: Developing Language Technologies for All : Best Practices
Session O12: The Future of Language Technologies for All: Outcome Document and Recommendations
Closing Remarks

Last but not least, we will discuss an outcome document and recommendation
to strategically design the next steps!
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Presentation Guidelines• Oral Sessions• Speakers• Please stay in your 10-minute time slot sharp• Allow more time for a discussion with the participants• Panel Discussions• All participants are welcomed to provide their questions• Especially we encourage for those who already provide written contributions• Please kindly not to use all the time only for your own questions• Poster Sessions• Speakers• The posters have been printed, and will be installed and uninstalled, by the organizers• Provide short introduction and have a free discussion with the participants• Others: There are tables and plugs available.
Even you don't have any posters but want to make a demo; you are free to use it.
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Remarks
We may come from different part of the worlds,
have different background and experiences,
speak in different language tongues,
but we will share our time together in this LT4All!
Let us embrace this special momentto share our knowledge and experiences,to discuss, and hopefully to collaborate
for a better future of language technologies and language diversity!
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Logistics

List of Organizers
Organized by:

In partnership with:

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How to find our ways !!
• There is an LT4All App

https://lt4all.lineupr.com/lt4all• It is usable offline

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LT4ALL

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All the topics … D1 D2 D3LT4ALL

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sponsors & supporters

Big Thank toLT4ALL

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List of Sponsors
Founding Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Public Donors

Travel Grants

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Silver Sponsors

Supporters

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Bronze Sponsors

An Exhibition
Hall Segur during all the breaks (coffee, lunch)

Demo possibilities(ask the ELRA team on the booth),
For assistance

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LT4ALL
KC/36• France, Russia, USA with almost 60 each2019/12/05-06• Over 500 registered participants from over 75 Countries
Uzbekistan

UkraineTurkeyNetherlands

Switzerland

Spain

Slovenia

SerbiaSanto Domingo

Russian Federation

Portugal

Paraguay

PakistanNigeria

Nepal

MoroccoMexicoMalaysia

LatviaKenya

Jordan

Italy

Iran

Iceland

GreeceGeorgiaFiji

Ethiopia

Dubai

Czechia

Columbia

ChadCambodia

BrazilBenin

Bangladesh

Armenia

Afghanistan

Axis Title

Participation: LTs, LP, Language activists, etc.

80

70

60

50

4030

20

100

Some examples
France72

Russian Federation

60

United States of America

59

India

24

Canada23

Germany

21Japan

14

Norway14

Nigeria

12United Kingdom

11

China

10South Africa

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Afghanistan
Algeria
Benin
BhutanBrazilCambodia
Croatia
DenmarkDjibouti
Egypt
Georgia
GreeceKenyaLebanon
Malaysia
Malta
Mongolia
Portugal
Saudi Arabia
SerbiaSlovakia
Slovenia
Republic of Korea
Timor-Leste

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Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions - kites GmbHLast but not least …

• Interpretation … Automatic Speech to Text

• we are very grateful to our professional interpreters but today we only
have Eng/Fr/Russian so we will see what technology can help us achievein near future;• Grateful to Karlsruhe Institute of Technology & Karlsruhe Information
Technology Solutions - kites GmbHLT4ALL

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We wish you all a very fruitful conferenceWill come back on Friday to thank the people whoare making this happen