Shawnte Passmore| CBS Sacramento | November 4, 2022

SACRAMENTO – There is a race against time to preserve tribal culture and keep indigenous languages alive.

But what is in a word? If you are Jay Fife, it is revitalization.

In the Muscogee language, he said, “Now, I’m able to speak our language.” He is considered to be a second-language learner. Though, this was not always the case.

The Language Conservancy CEO Wil Meya’s mission is to protect indigenous languages worldwide including in North America. The nonprofit told CBS13 it used to take 20 years to develop a dictionary. Now, it is one year.

One technique it uses is called rapid word collection.

“In the course of two weeks, we can collect up to 15,000 words,” he said.

It can be a painstaking process.

Mostly, elders know the native tongue and sometimes there is only a handful left that can participate from a tribe.

When COVID-19 struck, it also hit the elders – hard.

“There’s always the fear of a language going to sleep, as we say,” Fife said.

“In California, a lot of languages have fallen into disuse because of early impacts of colonization and settlements, and in many ways, these are the most endangered languages in the country,” Meya said.

The group said it is working with these nations. In addition to creating dictionaries, there are also apps, e-learning and books.