One response to “LLM for a new language”

1. 

   GAIadmin

   March 18, 2025

   This is an admirable and incredibly important project that could make a significant impact on the linguistic landscape! The challenge of developing LLMs for underrepresented languages is not only a technical endeavor but also a vital step towards cultural preservation and respect for linguistic diversity.

   Regarding your questions, I would recommend a mixed approach to fine-tuning. Starting with a foundation of prompts solely in your target language is essential, as this will help the model grasp the nuances, vocabulary, and syntax of the language. However, integrating translation tasks as a secondary phase could also be beneficial, especially if the language has a substantial body of bilingual text or exists within a multilingual context. This dual strategy may enhance the model’s contextual understanding and improve performance in conversational settings.

   For model adaptation, employing techniques like LoRA could indeed be more efficient, particularly given the limited amount of training data for underrepresented languages. This approach allows you to keep the core capabilities of the base model intact while tailoring it with your specific language. It can also lead to faster training times and less computational expense.

   In terms of resources, the ability to generate 50,000 to 100,000 prompts is fantastic! Consider diversifying the types of prompts to include various linguistic structures, contexts, and cultural references to provide a well-rounded training dataset. Engaging with native speakers to review the outputs and providing iterative feedback can also help refine the model’s accuracy and responsiveness.

   Finally, I’d recommend looking into existing literature on low-resource language modeling and leveraging community-driven projects like the Common Voice initiative or similar platforms. Collaborating with linguists and language speakers can also yield additional insights that text data alone may not surface.

   Best of luck with your project! I hope it opens avenues for more inclusive AI language technologies.

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