Omah Canglah, an Amis language digital activist from Hualien , Taiwan. Courtesy of Omah Canglah. Used with permission.

Have you signed up to participate in our upcoming event, “Digital Initiatives for Indigenous Languages of Taiwan,” on June 28, 2025, from 7–9 pm Taiwan time (11 am–1 pm UTC)? This is the first time Rising Voices, in collaboration with Taiwan's New Bloom Magazine and the Indigenous Youth Front, is organizing an event like this in Taiwan, in the hope of bringing together local Indigenous language digital activists to learn from and connect with each other. The idea is to facilitate the exchange of learned experiences and innovative ideas among these language activists, inspiring more possibilities for their language work.

Leading up to the event, each of our featured speakers chatted with Global Voices via email, offering a glimpse into their important language work and bringing their firsthand accounts to Global Voices’ audiences. In this interview, Omah Canglah, an Amis speaker from Hualien, Taiwan, shares about their language activism work and app development. 

The Amis are Taiwan's largest Indigenous group, mostly residing in the Huadong Valley and the coastal plains of eastern Taiwan. Statistics indicate that there are more than 230,360 Amis people in Taiwan.

Rising Voices (RV): Please tell us about yourself and your language-related work

Omah Canglah (OC): Nga’ay ho, ci Omah kako.（大家好，我是 Omah）來自花蓮玉里 Tokar 部落的阿美族，現在在意傳科技當產品經理，主要負責開發阿美族語及臺語口說跟讀練習 app。同時我也是台灣阿美族語言永續發展學會的常務理事，今年是我當理事的第九年，從青年理事開始當起，當到一個已經不知道還能不能算青年的年紀了。也在 2019 年時於阿美族語言推動組織擔任過專案人員，為期三年多，在擔任理事及專案人員的期間跟夥伴們一起辦理了各式各樣大大小小的語言推廣活動，像是青年線上族語聚會、阿美族語文學獎和族語夏令營等。等等，這樣回想起來，我好像從沒離開過跟族語有關的工作欸！

Omah Canglah (OC): Nga’ay ho, ci Omah kako (Hello everybody, I am Omah). I’m from the Amis Tribe of Tokar in Yuli, Hualien. I'm currently working as a product manager at ÌTHUÂN KHOKI, focused on developing Amis and Taiwanese Hokkien language practice apps. At the same time, I'm a board member of the Taiwan Amis Sustainable Development Association.

This is my ninth year as a board member. I started as a youth board member, but now I'm not sure if I can still be counted as a young person. In 2019, I joined a project by the Amis language promotion working group. Through the course of three years, while acting as a board member and project staff, I worked with team members on a variety of language promotion activities of all sizes, ranging from online language learning meetups for youth, Amis literature awards, to language training summer camps. Looking back, it seems like I've never done anything outside of Indigenous language-related work!

RV: What is the current state of the Indigenous language(s) you are working with, online and offline?

OC: 在 2019 年到 2022 年，阿美族語言推動組織走訪了全臺 210 個阿美族部落進行「族語使用狀況盤點」後發現，能夠說流利阿美族語的族人年齡層平均大約在 50 歲以上，在這個年齡界線以下的流利使用者極為少數，儘管阿美族是臺灣原住民族中人口數最多的族群，但語言流失的速度顯而易見，情況令人擔憂。

目前網路上的阿美族語內容，多以族語教材的形式呈現，尤其以族語認證相關教材為大宗，例如學習網站族語 E 樂園。此外，也有不少以族語教學為主的社群平台，像是都市美族生活日常和 Pangcah 有美友。近年來，不同形式的阿美語創作也開始嶄露頭角，例如在各大音樂平台上活躍的阿美語歌曲──馬樂 Madal 的《被祝福的人 Malemeday》。

OC: From 2019 to 2022, the Amis language working group traveled to 210 Amis communities around Taiwan to conduct an ‘Amis Language Use Map.’ We discovered that the average age of those who can speak fluently in Amis is above 50. There are very few under 50 can speak the language fluently. Even as the Amis are the largest Indigenous group in Taiwan, the rate of language loss is alarming.

Currently, most Amis language content on the internet is presented in the form of Amis language learning materials, consisting mainly that for the language certification exam, such as Klokah.tw. Outside of this, there are also some internet communities that focus on language learning, such as Amisitokay and Sowal no Pangcah. In the past few years, some Amis creative works have stood out, such as the Amis song ‘Malemeday’ by Madal, which can be listened to on major music platforms.

RV: What are your motivations for seeing these language(s) present in digital spaces?

OC: 在過去的工作經驗中，得知現代年輕人不願學習族語，部分原因是認為族語是「老人家」的語言，未來用不到。而許多現有族語教材也多聚焦於農耕、大自然等主題，更加深了族語「不現代、不實用、古老」的刻板印象，進而降低了學習意願。

也因為這樣，才希望能透過數位復振，將科技與族語結合，藉此提升族語的形象，打破這些既定印象。我相信，只要讓族語大量曝光於社群平台或科技產品上，就能讓年輕人看見「族語也可以很現代」，進而提升他們的學習意願，喚起年輕族人們的族語意識。

OC: In my past work experience, I came to understand that young people are often unwilling to learn Indigenous languages. Some believe that Indigenous languages are the language of ‘old people,’ that it can't be used in the future. And many language materials focus primarily on agriculture, nature, and similar topics. This further leads to the stereotype of Indigenous languages as ‘not modern, not practical, and old,’ further reducing their willingness to learn.

But because of this, I hope that through digital initiatives, in linking technology and language learning, this can change the image of Indigenous language learning to break these stereotypes.

I believe that by promoting the exposure of Indigenous languages across social media and digital products, it'll help young people see that ‘Indigenous languages can be modern, too!’, hence increasing their willingness to learn and raising their awareness for these languages.

RV: Could you share some of the challenges encountered and lessons learned in your digital work with these languages?

OC: 當前科技快速發展，族語面臨詞彙轉譯的嚴峻挑戰。有許多科技新詞難以直接翻譯，需要大量新創詞或外來語借詞；而創建「新創詞」的任務，對不熟悉科技產品的年長族語教師而言，更是巨大難題。

另外，分享一個在開發族語跟讀練習 app 的語音辨識功能時遇到的挑戰：訓練高品質的語音辨識模型需要大量的音檔，且理想上音檔的音色應符合目標使用者的年齡層；我們的目標用戶是 18 至 40 歲，但由於族語使用者普遍高齡化，要找到足夠數量符合年齡要求的年輕族人錄音極其困難。這過程也讓我對語言流失的現狀感到更加憂心。

OC: With the rapid development of technology, Indigenous languages face a severe challenge when it comes to vocabulary. Many new words and expressions related to technology are hard to be translated directly, which requires making up of new words or the use of loanwords. To establish a new word also proves challenging when it comes to elderly language instructors who may not be so familiar with these technologies.

Outside of this, a challenge I encountered in developing language apps for reading/speaking practice was that, in identifying pronunciations, there is a need for a large quantity of audio files for training high-quality identification models. Ideally, the audio should match the age of the target users.

Our target users are between 18 and 40. But because the average age of those who use Indigenous languages is older, it is extremely hard to find enough people of the target age groups to record the audio for us. This makes me worry all the more about the current situation of language loss.

RV: What concrete steps do you think can be taken to encourage younger people to use Indigenous languages in the digital space?

OC: 強化社群媒體上的族語曝光，應該是最容易可以提升年輕人學習意願的方式。透過在社群平台上發起族語挑戰、迷因、短影音等流行內容，讓族語變得有趣、現代，打破「古老」的刻板印象，吸引年輕人主動接觸。

另一個方向則是我們公司現在正在努力的：提升數位工具的族語友善性。除了開發更多實用的族語學習 app，也應該將族語融入生活應用──如：族語輸入法、簡易的族語翻譯工具，甚至將遊戲介面或對白在地化為族語。當族語在各種數位產品和服務中得到使用，就能讓年輕族人意識到族語的實用性與現代感，進而提升族語意識。

OC: Increasing the exposure of Indigenous languages in social media environments should be the easiest way to promote the willingness of young people to learn Indigenous languages. Through social media language contests, memes, short form videos, and other trendy content, we can make Indigenous languages fun and modern again, breaking the stereotype of them being ‘archaic,’ so as to make them more appealing to the younger generations.

Meanwhile, our company is working toward the other front: making digital tools more Indigenous language-friendly. Apart from developing more language learning apps, we should also incorporate Indigenous languages into daily use — e.g., input methods for Indigenous language, simple translation tools for the translation of Indigenous languages, or even localization of game interfaces or dialogues into Indigenous languages. When Indigenous languages are utilized in digital products and services, it will help raise the awareness of young people around their own languages, while providing a sense of practicality and modernity of these languages.

We will be recording the discussion for the “Digital Initiatives for Indigenous Languages of Taiwan” event later this week! For those who missed the registration but are still interested in learning about this topic, you can catch up here.