We, the 7000 Languages Team, are immensely proud of our community-wide efforts to revitalize, reclaim, and maintain linguistic diversity across the globe. We are excited to share our successes over this year, done in partnership with language keepers, visionary communities, and partners like you. This includes an expansion of our popular Fellowship Program, new partnerships with community organizations, and the development of our new language learning technology, Language Root.
Fellowship Program
This year, we were grateful to welcome 6 Fellows into our Fellowship Program. These fellows developed language learning resources in their languages and presented their research to the community in our Fellowship Showcase this fall. You can view this showcase, and learn more about these languages on our blog. This year’s fellowship marks a 300% increase in Fellows from last year. Over our 9 week Fellowship, the Fellows learned about best practices for recording languages, eliciting language data from speakers, and the archiving of these digital resources, as well as the creation of language learning modules in their respective languages. One of the best features of this program is the shared community that is built among the Fellows all working towards similar goals in their respective languages. We welcome our Fellows into our larger community of alumni and partners working towards the revitalization of endangered languages worldwide.
Community Partnerships
We had amazing opportunities to collaborate with communities across the continent this year, including a site visit with our partners at Doyon Foundation in Fairbanks, Alaska. In Alaska, 7000 Languages staff supported camp activities and led workshops focusing on best practices for recording and language data analysis. Partner teachers were introduced to language learning methodologies that decenter text and typical classroom practices and incorporated innovative learning methods in closer alignment with community needs.
We further participated in a site visit with the University of Alaska - Fairbanks archives which include early writings in the languages of, and about, the Indigenous peoples of the region. Beyond this partnership, this year we were able to partner with the following communities working in their respective languages: Shughni, Uma', Marma, Ekpeye, Bororo, Kalmyk, Natchez, Mi'kmaq, Comanche, Tlingit, Taqbaylit, Taino.
Language Root
Our organization prides itself on the use of technology in language revitalization efforts. We are proud to continue that work with our new venture, Language Root, that is currently under development. We began the development of this application this year as a way to expand offerings to new communities and individuals with diverse technological needs and access. Language Root is designed as the only language learning application accessible both online and offline for endangered languages. With this program, we hope to give more communities access to language learning materials on the go. We are currently testing our prototype with a launch of the application planned for the first quarter of 2024!
2023 has been a watershed year for 7000 Languages, marked with excellent growth in our programming and support for 13 new languages communities. We are fortunate for the opportunity to grow our community with new partners, new languages, and new opportunities for our community and ourselves to make real change in the language revitalization field to support linguistic vitality across our wonderful world. None of this work would be possible without the support of partners like you. We look forward to building off of this work in the years to come and hope that we can count on your support to see us through!
