In a world where artificial intelligence is transforming how we communicate, the survival of small languages depends not just on cultural passion — but on technology.
While English, Chinese, or Spanish dominate the digital space, thousands of smaller languages remain digitally invisible. Without online presence, data, or digital tools, these languages risk extinction in the 21st century.
As a software engineer and cultural advocate, I’ve spent years developing digital tools for the Crimean Tatar language — a Turkic minority language spoken by less than 300,000 people worldwide. Through this work, I’ve learned that the intersection of AI and linguistics isn’t just a research topic; it’s a lifeline for cultural identity.
The Challenge: The Technology Gap for Small Languages
Mainstream AI models—from GPT-based chatbots to translation engines—are trained primarily on high-resource languages. This creates a serious imbalance: while global communication becomes easier for some, others are left behind.
For small linguistic communities, the lack of:
- digital corpora,
- standardized spelling systems,
- and high-quality training datasets
makes it nearly impossible to integrate their languages into modern tools like voice assistants, translation services, or educational apps.
When a language isn’t “machine-readable,” it risks becoming irrelevant in the digital world — even if it’s still spoken at home.
Our Journey: Building Tools for the Crimean Tatar Language
In 2018, our team launched a series of educational and linguistic tools under the Qırımtatar Lugatı (Crimean Tatar Dictionary) project:
Our mission was to give people an accessible and modern way to learn, use, and preserve the Crimean Tatar language.
The apps quickly grew into more than just dictionaries — they became living platforms connecting speakers, learners, and educators. Yet, users wanted more: context-based search, on-the-fly translation, and natural voice pronunciation.
This inspired us to integrate artificial intelligence to make our tools more flexible and intelligent.
The Next Step: Bringing AI to Minority Languages
We are now integrating AI and machine learning into the Crimean Tatar dictionary project to expand its capabilities:
- 🧠 AI-assisted translation: dynamic, real-time translation between Crimean Tatar, Turkish, English, and Ukrainian.
- 🔊 Speech recognition and synthesis: allowing users to hear natural pronunciation and practice correct intonation.
- 📖 Adaptive learning: using AI to personalize vocabulary lessons based on user behavior and progress.
- 🪶 Data-driven NLP foundation: building scalable open datasets that will support future chatbots, voice assistants, and translation systems.
To achieve this, we’ve adopted and fine-tuned open-source speech synthesis models such as:
- facebook/mms-tts-crh — part of Meta’s Massively Multilingual Speech project, providing a solid baseline for Crimean Tatar TTS.
- robinhad/qirimtatar-tts — a community-driven model that helps us generate high-quality speech for educational and cultural content.
By leveraging these models, we’re building an AI-powered TTS system that brings Crimean Tatar audio resources to learners, teachers, and content creators for the first time.
Why This Matters
Language is more than communication — it’s collective memory.
When a language disappears, so does a unique worldview and cultural identity.
AI gives us a chance to reverse that process. With the right tools, small languages can become visible online, connect their communities, and survive in the digital era.
Projects like Qırımtatar Lugatı show that you don’t need a giant corporation to make an impact.
A small, passionate team with the right technical vision can give a digital voice — literally — to those who’ve been silent for too long.
How Developers and Researchers Can Help
If you’re a developer, linguist, or AI researcher, here are a few ways to make a difference:
- Contribute to open-source datasets for small or low-resource languages.
- Support multilingual NLP and TTS initiatives on Hugging Face or GitHub.
- Collaborate with communities and educators who are digitizing endangered languages.
- Help localize educational and cultural apps into underrepresented languages.
Every dataset, every model, and every contribution brings us closer to a more linguistically inclusive AI ecosystem.
Looking Ahead
Our roadmap for 2025 includes:
- Full integration of AI-powered translation within the Qırımtatar Lugatı apps.
- Implementation of voice features using our fine-tuned TTS models.
- Launching an open API for developers who want to build tools for Crimean Tatar or similar minority languages.
Technology alone won’t preserve culture — but it can amplify it.
For small languages like Crimean Tatar, AI isn’t just a tool — it’s hope.
About the Author
Servin Osmanov is a Senior Full-Stack Engineer and founder of the Qırım.Online and Ana-Yurt.Com project — an initiative focused on preserving Crimean Tatar culture and language through modern technology.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/servin-osmanov
GitHub: github.com/MrSerWin
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