18.12.2009, 11:30
Latvia and Microsoft Discusses “Language Shore” Project
OREANDA-NEWS. December 18, 2009. President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers met with Vahe Torossian, regional vice president for Microsoft International and Microsoft in Central and Eastern Europe, with Microsoft Latvia director Daiga Trumpe, and with Andrejs Vasiljevs of the Tilde company, on December 15 to discuss the further development of the launching of the international “Language Shore” project in Latvia – an idea which President Zatlers and Microsoft executive director Steve Ballmer came up with in May of this year, reported the Official website president.lv.
President Zatlers welcomes the interest which the global IT giant Microsoft has demonstrated in terms of being involved in the “Language Shore” project. “Latvia can create success stories that are based on knowledge, expertise and experience,” says the President. “We’re working with specialists from the Latvian Tilde company, the international IT company Microsoft and the government to establish Latvia as a centre for technologies related to the intellect of small languages. The project is important not just from the perspective of technologies, but also in the sense of preserving, nurturing and making easier everyday use of small languages via IT software. As patron of the project, I will carefully monitor its implementation.”
Microsoft Latvia director Daiga Trumpe: “Microsoft sees this as a sustainable and internationally important project, and we are interested in investing in its development. The success of the project will require support from the government, as well as competent and serious partners. There are powerful IT companies in Latvia with experience in technological projects related to language.”
Andrejs Vasiljevs, board chairman of Tilde: “We’re delighted at this chance to engage in teamwork with the Microsoft research division so as to develop the latest translation technologies. These will reduce the language barrier and substantially strengthen the positions of the Latvian language in the modern-day world. We want to ensure that the Latvian language is among those languages in the world which are best provided with technologies so that we can use our experience to help in the development of other small languages.”
The project is aimed at establishing a centre that will be a cluster for innovative technologies related to small languages and their content at the international level. This will bring together national and international professionals from the fields of education, academia and the business sector. It will make it possible for specialists in Latvia to develop areas of science and companies that will design and manufacture products so as to allow people who speak less often used languages, including Latvians, to make everyday use of various IT and communications technologies, translation and information search services on the Internet, mechanised translation services, and other opportunities in their own language. The “Language Shore” will ensure the establishment of a series of important companies and scientific institutions in Latvia – ones that would create exportable products with a high level of added value, bringing in investments and promoting economic recovery and growth.
While on a working visit to the United States on May 19 of this year, President Zatlers visited Microsoft in Seattle, Washington, and its executive director, Steve Ballmer. They discussed future co-operation projects, what needs to be done in the area of information technologies, and particularly the hope of establishing the “Language Share” project as an intellectual technology centre for languages. During their conversation, the President and Mr Ballmer identified a unique niche in the field of information technologies – the development of intellectual technologies for the world’s small languages, which, they agreed, is an area with enormous potential. On October 8, in turn, President Zatlers met with Wilfried Grommen, Microsoft’s technological director for Central and Eastern Europe. Microsoft signalled its interest in helping to develop the “Language Shore” project at the conceptual level.
President Zatlers welcomes the interest which the global IT giant Microsoft has demonstrated in terms of being involved in the “Language Shore” project. “Latvia can create success stories that are based on knowledge, expertise and experience,” says the President. “We’re working with specialists from the Latvian Tilde company, the international IT company Microsoft and the government to establish Latvia as a centre for technologies related to the intellect of small languages. The project is important not just from the perspective of technologies, but also in the sense of preserving, nurturing and making easier everyday use of small languages via IT software. As patron of the project, I will carefully monitor its implementation.”
Microsoft Latvia director Daiga Trumpe: “Microsoft sees this as a sustainable and internationally important project, and we are interested in investing in its development. The success of the project will require support from the government, as well as competent and serious partners. There are powerful IT companies in Latvia with experience in technological projects related to language.”
Andrejs Vasiljevs, board chairman of Tilde: “We’re delighted at this chance to engage in teamwork with the Microsoft research division so as to develop the latest translation technologies. These will reduce the language barrier and substantially strengthen the positions of the Latvian language in the modern-day world. We want to ensure that the Latvian language is among those languages in the world which are best provided with technologies so that we can use our experience to help in the development of other small languages.”
The project is aimed at establishing a centre that will be a cluster for innovative technologies related to small languages and their content at the international level. This will bring together national and international professionals from the fields of education, academia and the business sector. It will make it possible for specialists in Latvia to develop areas of science and companies that will design and manufacture products so as to allow people who speak less often used languages, including Latvians, to make everyday use of various IT and communications technologies, translation and information search services on the Internet, mechanised translation services, and other opportunities in their own language. The “Language Shore” will ensure the establishment of a series of important companies and scientific institutions in Latvia – ones that would create exportable products with a high level of added value, bringing in investments and promoting economic recovery and growth.
While on a working visit to the United States on May 19 of this year, President Zatlers visited Microsoft in Seattle, Washington, and its executive director, Steve Ballmer. They discussed future co-operation projects, what needs to be done in the area of information technologies, and particularly the hope of establishing the “Language Share” project as an intellectual technology centre for languages. During their conversation, the President and Mr Ballmer identified a unique niche in the field of information technologies – the development of intellectual technologies for the world’s small languages, which, they agreed, is an area with enormous potential. On October 8, in turn, President Zatlers met with Wilfried Grommen, Microsoft’s technological director for Central and Eastern Europe. Microsoft signalled its interest in helping to develop the “Language Shore” project at the conceptual level.
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