AWARENESS REMAINS THE KEY

Creating public awareness about the indigenous language crisis encourages people and institutions around the world to work on solutions. Greater awareness directs more resources to the problem.

Key to saving hundreds of languages from the wave of extinctions coming in the next thirty years is creating a broader public awareness that brings a heightened sense of urgency. The more people know and care about the issue, the greater the chance that we can save these linguistic and cultural treasures.

We work across multiple channels to get the word out on the indigenous language crisis. Some of the ways we reach out and inform the public include:

  • We’ve produced a documentary in cooperation with Florentine Films about young Native American men and women learning to speak their native languages. As a direct result of learning to speak the language of their ancestors, these Native American youth have experienced profound personal growth that continues to reverberate through their communities.

  • Working with partner organizations across the United States, Canada, and Australia, we help encourage support for the ongoing work of preserving and revitalizing indigenous languages.

  • We help distribute information to individuals, institutions, and government agencies about language endangerment. We offer best-practice solutions based on our track record of success that lay out proven paths to language revitalization.

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Our Impact

Unless we act, within the next 100 years, 90% of our world’s 6,000 languages will become extinct. In the United States alone, of the original 400 to 500 languages once spoken from the Pacific to the Atlantic, only about a dozen Native American languages have a chance of surviving beyond 2050. Government aid remains severely limited. The few private foundations tackling language revitalization cannot keep up with demand from so many corners. Very few organizations work to raise funds for and revitalize the endangered languages of the earth. The Language Conservancy stands as one of the few organizations working on the ground to maintain linguistic diversity across the planet. We play a crucial role in our world today.

Getting the Word Out

Problem: A Lack of Awareness

Since our founding in 2005, TLC has worked to raise public awareness of the threat to our linguistic and cultural heritage. The indigenous language crisis and the work undertaken to restore endangered languages across the world is one of our world’s great untold stories.

Solution: TLC Produces Documentary

In 2009, TLC started to share stories of hope and renewal emerging from language communities experiencing revitalization. Partnering with Florentine Films and Hott Productions, in 2012, TLC began film production on our “Rising Voices” documentary film project, telling stories of hope and renewal as young people go about learning the languages of their ancestors and experience growth in their indigenous identities and personal lives in our modern world. In 2015, PBS aired “Rising Voices” across the United States. Watch the film on YouTube or purchase a copy on DVD from the TLC Bookstore.

Problem: Schools Need Materials

The language of the Crow people of Montana, enjoyed a relatively high number of speakers as a percentage of total population. But because the tribe was not large, very few language resources were developed for the schools to teach the language sequentially and systematically from K-8.

Solution: Leverage Resources

Responding to a request from the tribe in 2012, TLC organized the adaptation of a successful Native American language textbook series into Crow and began the process of sponsoring the development a Crow Language authority that could lead the language to vitality in the years to come.