Føroyamál, together with other organizers, hosted Mother Tongue Day on March 25. This year's theme was Tað viti vitlíki, with a particular focus on the Faroese language and artificial intelligence. In this context, Iben Nyholm Debess from the Centre for Language Technology gave a presentation titled AI and Faroese: Preservation, Milestones, and Crossroads, which highlighted how language technology and AI can—and must—be used to secure the future of the Faroese language in an increasingly digital society.
Iben explained the work being done at the Centre for Language Technology, where the core mission is to collect data and materials, develop high-quality machine translation, and set standards for quality evaluation. Emphasis is also placed on strong collaboration with researchers, institutions, and companies both in the Faroe Islands and abroad—especially in the Nordic Countries.
A central question in the presentation was: How can we ensure that the Faroese language has a place in today’s reality, where technology and AI hold so much power? Iben stated that it is necessary to keep up with international developments, make use of the available tools, and advocate for Faroese to be included on major platforms. At the same time, however, we must build our own frameworks and retain control over our linguistic future. It is too risky to rely solely on tools developed by large international companies, which may support Faroese only by chance—and at widely varying levels of quality. These tools are not created with Faroese people or culture in mind and, therefore, do not sufficiently understand our language, culture, and needs.
Throughout history, various milestones have marked the development of the Faroese language. A major milestone was reached when we gained our orthography. Without a written form, a language cannot be used across all areas of society or in all forms of communication. Ensuring that the Faroese language is well represented in technology and AI can be compared to that milestone. If we fail at this, the language may not be fully usable in future contexts. This new milestone must be built now to secure the foundations for using Faroese in the future.
The presentation concluded with a call to action—directed at both politicians and society as a whole—to invest in language technology and AI, and to dedicate political will and funding to the work of ensuring that Faroese has a place in the digital world.
