Around 45% of the world’s languages are considered threatened or endangered. Pressure from global languages and digitization processes has accelerated this risk, especially for those languages that are not supported by technological services and platforms.
DeepL, the innovative language technology company specializing in AI-assisted translation and writing, has announced an update to its translation tool with support for Spain’s co-official and regional languages, such as Catalan, Basque, Galician, and Aragonese.
Spain is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in Europe. In communities such as Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, and Aragon, co-official and regional languages are used on a daily basis in businesses, public institutions, education, financial services, and customer service.
“Co-official languages are part of everyday economic life in Spain, and at DeepL we want to be a useful tool for the entire population, regardless of the language they use,” explains Jaroslaw ‘Jarek’ Kutylowski, founder and CEO of DeepL. “For language technology to have a real impact, it must adapt to how people and organizations communicate in each territory, both nationally and regionally.”
Catalonia alone accounts for nearly 19% of the national GDP, while the Basque Country and Galicia are among the regions with the highest industrial and export activity. However, on the other hand, millions of people need translation tools for their personal or professional relationships when it comes to connecting genuinely with these communities.
For DeepL, adding more official Spanish languages also responds to the number of speakers. Catalan is understood and spoken by nearly 9 million people; Basque has around 750,000 speakers today; in the case of Galician, more than two million people use it regularly, while around 25,000 people communicate in Aragonese.
With this expansion, the company continues to advance its commitment to digital inclusion and technological recognition of the country’s historical languages.
Disclosure: This article mentions clients of an Espacio portfolio company.
