Lenovo launches computers that allow the use of Brazilian indigenous languages

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Population has difficulty using written languages ​​without the special characters available on keyboards, which aggravates the risk of extinction of these peoples’ languages. Lenovo includes Kaingang and Nheengatu indigenous languages ​​in its notebooks Disclosure / Lenovo Lenovo announced that it has started selling the first notebooks with two options for indigenous languages ​​spoken in Brazil, Kaingang and Nheengatu. According to the company, the models began to be sold at the end of last year and are part of the IdeaPad and Yoga lines, using the Lux operating system. On Tuesday (17), notebooks from the IdeaPad line were found available for purchase from R$1,847.99 and from the Yoga line from R$4,499.99, at the company’s official store. The initiative is part of the Revitalization of Endangered Indigenous Languages ​​project, launched by Motorola, a mobility company of the Lenovo Group, which, in 2021, included the two languages ​​in smartphone models with Android 11. The company said it expects soon make other languages ​​available, such as Cherokee, spoken by natives of North America, which was included in Motorola smartphones in 2022. In addition to the initiative by Motorola and Lenovo, there are some virtual keyboards that can be downloaded containing characters from indigenous languages. Check at the end of the report. An indigenous language can disappear every two weeks, which would result in the extinction of approximately 3,000 languages ​​by the end of the century, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). To prevent this from continuing to happen, indigenous languages ​​have to expand their spaces and their use in writing, says Wilmar D’Angelis, a doctor in linguistics and professor at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), who helped with the project. The professor explains why these two languages ​​were chosen: Kaingang is the third most spoken indigenous language in Brazil, according to the census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Guarani, the most widely spoken language, was discarded because it has different spellings and dialects according to the regions of Brazil, making it more difficult to create a universal keyboard. Nheengatu, despite not being one of the most widely spoken languages, is considered the official language of the Amazon, as it was introduced by colonizers and Jesuits in the 19th century, who were accompanied by the Tupinambá people. Over the years, many indigenous communities have been replacing their languages ​​with Nheengatu. In geography, the fluency of these two languages ​​is divided as follows: Kaingang: is spoken by more than 30 thousand people distributed in the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and the western region of the state of São Paulo; Nheengatu: is spoken by around 14,000 people in the Brazilian, Colombian and Venezuelan Amazon region. Calendar in Nheengatu on Lenovo’s Lux system Disclosure / Lenovo Read also: Google launches new glasses that translate conversations in real time Discover the 28 traditional peoples and communities of Brazil Improvisation in conversation applications Without official keyboards in indigenous languages, young people, mainly, they have to improvise when chatting through messaging apps: either they stick to Portuguese, or they send audios, or they try to replace their characters. In the case of Nheengatu, for example, the spelling includes a “~” above the letter “Y”, in the absence of this possibility, people have used the umlaut, thus: “ÿ”, comments D’Angelis. Without the possibility of keeping up to date, these languages ​​undergo changes. One of the reasons why they are at risk of extinction, like all indigenous languages, is this pressure to speak Portuguese. In addition to using the internet, there is a requirement to know the language to get a job, it is the main language taught even in indigenous schools and also for any communication outside the village, explains the teacher. Desktop options in the Kaingang language on Lenovo’s Lux system Disclosure / Lenovo Indigenous digital keyboards In addition to the initiative by Motorola and Lenovo, there are some virtual keyboards that can be downloaded containing characters from indigenous languages, Professor D’Angelis himself has already developed one, which also included an encyclopedia of entries. Last year, a group of young researchers from Amazonas launched the “Linklado” digital keyboard. The software brings together special characters and diacritics from more than 40 Amazonian indigenous languages. The creators of “Linklado” are students Samuel Benzecry, from Stanford University (USA), and Juliano Portela, who attends high school in Manaus. Together they designed the layout and developed the digital keyboard prototype for Windows and Android. Watch: Google unveils new glasses that translate conversations in real time

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