Last Thursday, Google announced the addition of 110 languages to its Translate service, including Cantonese, Crimean Tatar, Jamaican Patois, Punjabi, Sicilian, and Tibetan.

Writing on Facebook, the Silesian group Ślonsko Ferajna welcomed the move, describing it as “an important milestone in the popularization and the study of our language.”

However, the group pointed out that considerable work was needed to ensure greater accuracy: “It needs some time to work properly, as currently most translations contain significant errors,” it wrote.

More frank in its assessment, the Silesian news platform Ślązag labeled many of the translations as “ridiculous.”

Despite these teething problems, the introduction of Silesian has been greeted enthusiastically by regional activists.

Grzegorz Kulik, the chairman of the Silesian Language Council and the driving force behind a pre-existing Silesian translation tool, said: “I’m very happy that the Silesian language has been recognized by new technologies, as this means the digital distance between us and mainstream languages has narrowed.”

On May 29, President Duda, a conservative who has made a point of promoting traditional and national values, vetoed an amendment to the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities that would have recognized Silesian as a regional language.

Among other things, its acceptance would have seen the introduction of voluntary Silesian school classes and bilingual signs in places with large proportions of Silesian speakers.

Justifying his decision, Duda said that most linguists agreed that Silesian was a dialect of Polish as opposed to a language, and also cited security concerns.

Arguing that Poland was already facing hybrid attacks on its eastern border, Duda said that the ongoing situation meant that particular attention should be paid to “the preservation of national identity,” something that could be achieved “by cultivating the native language.”

The Ministry of Education has proved more supportive, allocating two million złotys (€465,140) this year to aid the development of both Silesian culture and its language.

In 2021, the national census found that 467,145 people listed Silesian as their primary language.