Ever so often I take a step back and just look at what we’ve been up to at Wikitongues and today was just one of those days. I’ll get back to talking about product led improvements to the archive, but for right now I want to celebrate all of the over 40 different revitalization fellowships we’ve supported over the last few years.
With projects covering areas as diverse as Art & Performance, Bio-cultural Knowledge, Community Engagement, Cultural Preservation, Documentation, Education, Lexicography, Linguistics Research, Literature, Technology Tools, and Wikimedia, and in no fewer than 43 distinct language communities around the world, these people’s efforts impact the lives of literally tens of millions of people who now have more robust access to their cultural heritage.
Imagine trying to text your friends and family but the letters you need to type are not available to you. Mahuton developed a solution for his language of 2.3 million speakers. Each of these projects is as mind blowing as the next. Another project, led by Benson, compiled the first dictionary of Taivoan - the ancestral language of Taiwan - that reflects all four subgroups. Due to political reasons, it has been difficult for the Taivoan language to gain resources for revival; and so, with this first Taivoan dictionary, Benson and his team hope to open the doors for more people to reclaim their heritage language.
Go take a peep at the amazing work these people are doing and support their work while you’re at it!