Adam Stone, PhD, Indigenous Language Lead at WinTranslation, joins Robin to unpack why Indigenous language work is categorically different from standard localization — and why the industry can no longer afford to ignore it.
What does it take to build Indigenous language services inside a commercial LSP — and why has the localization industry largely looked the other way for three decades?
In this episode:
• How a non-Indigenous linguist earns trust in communities with every reason to be skeptical of outside institutions — and the mantra Adam lives by: "I go where I'm invited"
• Why Canada's 70+ Indigenous languages, spanning 12 unrelated language families, cannot be served with a standard localization playbook — and what that means for timelines, pricing, and translator sourcing
• The state of language revitalization in Canada today, what the 2019 Indigenous Languages Act did and didn't solve, and why immersion-based practice is outpacing classroom instruction
• Why AI and machine translation are largely irrelevant to most Indigenous language work right now — and what the real threat to linguistic diversity actually looks like
Adam Stone, PhD, is the Indigenous Language Lead at WinTranslation in Ottawa, where he is building the company's Indigenous language capabilities, developing translator and community networks, and writing the operational playbook for this work inside a professional LSP. He holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Carleton University and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in language revitalization at the University of Victoria. His research spans Indigenous and minority languages across Canada, Northern Europe, and the Middle East, with a particular focus on the relationship between language, geography, and community.
Connect with Adam Stone, PhD:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamstone
Website: https://wintranslation.com
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