Catharine Cellier-Smart | Smart Translate

Does ChatGPT think you’re Welsh too? In spite of glitches, the tech sector is certain that voice is the next frontier in AI

🤖 Who confuses English, the world’s most widely used #language, for #Welsh, the oldest living language in Great Britain?
ft.com/content/0c91...
via @financialtimes.com

There's a Grim New Expression: "AI;DR" The slang is a sign of how overrun the internet is with AI slop — and how the real humans using it are fed up.

🤖 "Why should I bother to read something someone else couldn't be bothered to write?"
This has given rise to a new term: “AI;DR” (a riff on the classic internet slang “TL;DR”)
futurism.com/artificial-i...
via @futurism.com

China’s Parents Are Outsourcing the Homework Grind to A.I.

🇨🇳 Parents in China are turning to A.I. chatbots and other tools to help their children gain an edge; gadgets include an "A.I. Translation Mask"
nytimes.com/2026/03/02/w...
via @nytimes.com

Callers to Washington state hotline press 2 for Spanish and get accented AI English instead Callers to Washington state’s driver’s license agency who select automated service in Spanish have instead been hearing an AI voice speaking English with a strong Spanish accent.

🤖 Callers to Washington state hotline press 2 for Spanish – and get accented AI English instead
apnews.com/article/wash...

💡 International Women’s Day 2026: shining a spotlight on women-led businesses in the #language industry in 2026
www.nimdzi.com/internationa...

How toddlers in Finland are saving an endangered Sámi language Special nurseries are helping the Sámi people in Finland to bring their almost-lost language back from the brink of extinction.

🇫🇮 Toddlers to the rescue: special nurseries are helping the #Sámi people in Finland bring their almost-lost #language back from the brink of extinction
www.bbc.com/future/artic...

7 languages you’ll hear where you least expect them Welsh in Argentina? Portuguese in Japan? These are just a few of the unexpected language pockets you’ll find around the globe!

🗺 When we think about where #languages are spoken, we often picture tidy borders & rules, like Japanese in Japan. But centuries of colonisation, migration, and cultural exchange have created pockets of unexpected #languages in countries across the world
blog.duolingo.com/unexpected-l...

Babblers, cops and quacks: the sometimes dark – but often amusing – origins of nicknames for jobs Australians love a nickname, and certain jobs are no exceptions. So whether you’re a journo, brickie, shrink or cop, there’s a rich history behind the slang.

📛 Babblers, cops and quacks: the sometimes dark – but often amusing – origins of nicknames for jobs
theconversation.com/babblers-cop...
via @aunz.theconversation.com

Indo-European Explorer You speak the language of horse riders who lived north of the Black Sea 6,000 years ago. Discover how.

[Interactive] 1️⃣ #language became ½ the world's words: trace the journey of the Proto-Indo-European #language family from the Pontic-Caspian steppe to Sanskrit, Greek, Latin & English, through genetics, archaeology, #linguistics, & myth
indo-european-explorer.com

Like digging ‘your own professional grave’: The translators grappling with losing work to AI | CNN Business While workers worldwide ponder how artificial intelligence might affect their livelihoods, there’s one sector where that question is no longer hypothetical. Machine translation has reduced the amount ...

🤖 "While other workers worldwide ponder how AI might affect their livelihoods ... that question is no longer hypothetical in the #translation industry"
edition.cnn.com/2026/01/23/t...
via @cnn.com

Around the web – February 2026 Here’s your round-up for February 2026 with the most interesting news, articles, and blog posts about translation and language over the past month. “There’s a moral line that has to be …

🔑 From ancient roots to modern brands: here's your February round-up of the month's most interesting stories, blog posts and articles about #translation and #languages
wp.me/p2brSS-1kM

Brave New World? Justice for creators in the age of GenAI   - The Society of Authors We have joined forces with other creator-led organisations to co-launch a ground-breaking report showing the onset of a creative jobs crisis in the UK.

🇬🇧 Brave New World? UK's @societyofauthors.bsky.social calls for justice for creators in the age of GenAI; asks government to immediately implement 'CLEAR', a new regulatory framework to protect the livelihoods of creator-led professions
societyofauthors.org/2026/01/30/b...

nostalgia for present-day British English

🇬🇧 @lynneguist.bsky.social on nostalgia for present-day British English
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/02/nost...

The human touch: Being a translator in Wales in the face of AI The rise of artificial intelligence could have far-reaching implications for everyday life in the future, but one industry that is feeling the impact now is translation. As bots corner the market, Deb...

🤖 "As all 3 #translators [interviewed] pointed out, there’s a moral line that has to be drawn by companies in deciding whether they choose human versus AI #translation, and whether consumers care whether their media is AI-generated"
cambrian-news.co.uk/news/the-hum...
via @cambriannews.bsky.social

Interpreter makes more than 200 errors in Supreme Court trial A Victorian Supreme Court trial is forging ahead with amended transcripts after an interpreter made more than 200 translation errors during a key witness' evidence.

🇦🇺 A NAATI-certified #Arabic #language #interpreter has made more than 100 prejudicial errors during a Supreme Court trial. A judge has ruled the original evidence is admissible if a re-interpreted transcript of the testimony is provided.
abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

Favorite Words From Foreign Languages Karaoke, chutzpah, kerfuffle & more

🔝 @merriamwebster6.bsky.social 's top 10 favourite words from non-Romance #languages
www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/top...

International Mother Language Day | United Nations The purpose of the day is to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

Today, 21 February, is United Nations International Mother #Language Day.
2026 theme: Youth voices on #multilingual education
www.un.org/en/observanc...

‘Coffee is just the excuse’: the deaf-run cafe where hearing people sign to order In-person interactions break down barriers in east London, as AI startups also try to bridge communication divide

🧏 Coffee is just the excuse’: the deaf-run cafe where hearing people sign to order ; in-person interactions break down barriers in east London
theguardian.com/society/2026...
by @byameliahill.bsky.social
via @theguardian.com

Silent cyber threats: How shadow AI could undermine Canada’s digital health defences Shadow AI is the unsanctioned use of AI systems without formal institutional oversight. In health care, it means pasting patient details into public chatbots.

🤖 Silent cyber threats: How unchecked use of shadow AI (including for #translation) could undermine a country's digital health defences
theconversation.com/silent-cyber...
by @dzevela.bsky.social & AbbasYazdinejad
via @theconversation.com

French connections - Love à la française: How are attitudes to dating and marriage different? When it comes to romance, the French have the reputation of being passionate, first-class lovers. But is this just a cliché? What's it really like to go out with a French person? Are dating rules diff...

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 When it comes to romance, the French have the reputation of being passionate, first-class lovers. But what's it really like going out with a French person? And what about French attitudes to marriage, divorce and infidelity?
france24.com/en/tv-shows/...
via @france24.com

BBC Radio 4 - Radio 4 in Four - When people get your name wrong Why personal names are so often mispronounced or misspelled, in conversation and online.

📛 Why are personal names so often mispronounced or misspelt?
Our name is a deeply personal thing. No wonder so many of us take offence when someone gets it wrong.
And yet, we find other people’s so hard to remember – and just can’t seem to get them right.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/a...

How Many Letters Does Each European Language's Alphabet Have? - Brilliant Maps The map above shows how many letters each country (or really each language) has in it's alphabet.  In any case here's a ranking of countries by the number letters in their alphabet from lowest to high...

🔠 How many letters does each European #language’s alphabet have?
brilliantmaps.com/letters-of-t...
via @brilliantmaps.bsky.social

Etymologies of Endonyms and Exonyms - Starkey Comics Endonyms are the names countries call themselves in their own language(s), while exonyms are the names foreign languages call them. Often these are clearly related (like English “Brazil” and Portugues...

🗺 The etymologies of endonyms (names countries call themselves in their own language), and exonyms (names foreign languages call them)
starkeycomics.com/2025/10/31/e...
by @starkeycomics.bsky.social

‘I thought it was going to perish’: the remarkable revival of an endangered language in Lesotho Concentrated among 1,000 people in the remote Daliwe valley, siPhuthi has gained a dictionary, a Bible translation and official recognition thanks to intrepid linguists and activists

🇱🇸 Revival of an endangered #language: concentrated among 1,000 people in Lesotho's Daliwe valley, siPhuthi has gained a dictionary, a Bible #translation & official recognition thanks to intrepid linguists & activists
theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
by @rachelmsavage.bsky.social
via @theguardian.com

AI translations of British Sign Language 'risks new barriers' for deaf people Charities and MPs raised concerns about the use of AI to translate BSL, with Labour MP Jen Craft explaining deaf people were being brought in to road test the AI too late

🤖 Charities and MPs have raised concerns about the use of AI to #translate British Sign Language; risk spreading misinformation and making disabled access worse
mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
#BSL

The “must attend” conferences of 2026. Dear Colleagues: 2025 was a great year for professional conferences. Many colleagues physically attended professional conferences and others stayed home and virtually attended those conferences tha…

📛 The “must attend” conferences of 2026
rpstranslations.wordpress.com/2026/01/16/t...
by @rpstranslations.bsky.social

AI is still not ready to handle arts and culture translations ChatGPT recently rolled out a translation page where you can select the tone you would like for your translation. Is it any good for arts and culture texts?

🤖 AI is still not ready to handle arts and culture #translations: some examples from Natalie Soper
bellingua.co.uk/2026/01/19/w...

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, Band names - What makes a good band name? From the (arguably) rubbish to the brilliant, along with some of the best origin stories.

🎸 From 'The Penguins' to the 'Sex Pistols' to 'Pig Pig Pig Pig Pig Pig Pig' – what makes a good or a bad band name?
bbc.co.uk/programmes/a...

👉 The online literary #translation summer school @oxfordtranslates.bsky.social will take place at @stedmundhall.bsky.social, University of Oxford
📆 6-10 July 2026
Workshops running into English from 11 #languages
Workshops out of English running from 4 languages
seh.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtransl...

NEWS RELEASE: Hi-Ema Celebrates Hawaiian Language With Mahina ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi In February | Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency HI-EMA CELEBRATES HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE WITH MAHINA ʻŌLELO HAWAIʻI IN FEBRUARY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFebruary 16, 2024 HONOLULU  ̶  The beautiful and vibrant Hawaiian language is being celebrated throughou...

Today is the first day of #Hawaiian #Language Month
dod.hawaii.gov/hiema/news-r...
(H/T @becauselanguage.com)