Is Icelandic Lost in Translation? Language, Technology, and the Future

What makes a language alive?

Is it the number of speakers, the books on library shelves, or simply the fact that we can use it to express our deepest thoughts in the bustle of everyday life? These questions have weighed heavily on my mind lately, especially when I consider the core of the project 'Temjum tæknina': creating harmony between rapid technological development and human values.

In the latest episode of the podcast, I welcomed a wonderful guest, Lilja Dögg Jónsdóttir, CEO of Almannaróm. Our conversation quickly evolved into a deep and passionate discussion about one of the most precious yet fragile phenomena of Icelandic culture – the language itself.

Lilja reminded me of something often forgotten: The battle for the digital future of Icelandic is not new. It is part of a long chain where people have given their all. As Lilja put it so well:

"I – and people in general – have been fighting this battle for a long time. We stand on the shoulders of giants. If we look back to 1985, the battle was about getting Icelandic characters onto the keyboard."

This historical dimension puts our modern challenges in a new context. Today, the battle is not about characters on a keyboard, but about data. It is about the immense treasure trove of text and speech needed to teach our machines to understand and speak Icelandic with the nuances that make it our language. Without this data, Icelandic ceases to be viable in the technological reality we are all becoming part of.

This is where I sense that 'interregnum' that Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci wrote about – when the old is dying but the new has not yet been born. The old reality, where Icelandic was an unchallenged pillar in all our communications, is under attack in the digital world. The new reality, where technology speaks fluent and creative Icelandic, has not yet been fully formed. We are standing in between.

I feel this myself. I have caught myself switching to English when using AI, simply to get more accurate and better results. It is a temptation we all face. But every time we choose English over Icelandic in our interactions with technology, we are inadvertently prolonging this interregnum.

Yet my conversation with Lilja did not fill me with despair, quite the opposite. It reminded me of the tremendous solidarity that exists around the language. It reminded me of the passion that lives in people like her and her colleagues at Almannaróm, who work tirelessly to gather data and build the infrastructure needed.

The task is twofold, as Lilja pointed out: On one hand, to defend the language, and on the other, to ensure that we Icelanders can utilize this revolutionary technology on our own terms, so we do not become followers of other nations.

This is not just a technical challenge; it is a question of who we want to be as a society. This is, as Lilja said, an eternal project. It requires vigilance, curiosity, and willingness to participate.

I strongly encourage you to listen to the conversation with Lilja. It is a necessary reminder that when we 'tame technology' we are not just dealing with code and algorithms. We are dealing with the soul of our culture.