Out of over 7,000 languages in the world, only a small fraction are represented in modern AI systems.
This means that many languages remain absent from the technologies people use every day.
At the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL) 2026 celebration event in Yaoundé, we witnessed the ongoing efforts to preserve and promote indigenous languages through literature, tools, and community-driven initiatives.
However, an important question remains: how do we ensure these languages are not only preserved, but actively used in the digital world?
At Engage Africa NLP, we are working to help address this gap by building datasets and language technologies that enable African languages to function within AI systems.
Read more about our perspective and how these efforts connect:
https://engageafricanlp.com/2026/03/31/from-language-preservation-to-digital-inclusion-supporting-indigenous-languages-through-ai/
An article by Faith Nchifor, EngageAfricaNLP Project Coordinator