Dwarfs sitting on the giants' shoulders - how LTs for regional and minority languages can benefit from piggybacking major languages

LTs are a necessary instrument for all languages, especially for those aiming at conquering a space over digital devices. Languages that are not equipped with LT seriously face digital extinction in the long run. Many challenges are to be faced to equip minority languages with LTs (from basic to advanced): the almost complete lack of knowledge about available resources and technologies, the substantial delay in development of basic technologies, the lack of cooperation among minority languages communities, the chronic shortage of funding (in particular for minority languages not officially recognized, yet often the most vital ones over the Internet) and the limited economic value placed over LTs for minority languages by the digital market rules. In this paper we suggest how these challenges can be overcome, and how coordinated and standardized cooperation among all interested stakeholders can lead to better knowledge and awareness of the breadth and depth of available technologies.