Wikitongues is a US 501(c)(3), fighting for every language to be celebrated, respected, and institutionally supported. We invest in language activists, accelerate endangered language revitalization, and defend language diversity worldwide. 7,000 languages are spoken or signed today, but at least 3,000 languages could disappear in 80 years. Language extinction is not inevitable. People lose their languages to economic exclusion, political oppression, or violence. Language revitalization is possible. With the right tools and your rights protected, you can learn the language of your culture and teach it to the next generation, raising new native speakers and sustaining your community. Sadly, external support for this resource-intensive process is scarce, excluding most endangered language speakers and their descendants from the possibility of language revitalization. By bridging that gap, we can make it possible for anyone to revitalize their language, measurably reversing the trend of language extinction.
Wikitongues was founded in 2014 as an all-volunteer effort to raise awareness about the scope, scale, and value of linguistic diversity. Since then, we have supported grassroots language documentation for over 700 languages, or 10% of every language in the world, and we have developed meaningful relationships with the leaders of diverse language revitalization projects. In 2019, we published the Language Sustainability Toolkit, an introduction to the process of saving your language. In 2021, we became operational. Since then, our core program has been the Language Revitalization Accelerator, a funded fellowship that helps community leaders keep their languages alive.
Wikitongues began back in the day as a volunteer YouTube channel, documenting oral histories in order to showcase the world’s language diversity. We quickly gained interest, and so we established a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and documenting endangered languages. Quickly we realized that in order to ensure linguistic diversity for the future, we also needed to support community projects, ensuring that languages could pass down to the next generations. With that in mind, we have now expanded to not only document and archive languages, but to kickstart language revitalization projects.
You can reach us by email at hello@wikitongues.org. As a small team, we appreciate your patience while we respond to inquiries!
Yes, we welcome all language translations! Please send us an email at hello@wikitongues.org so that we can share the working draft of the document you would like to translate.
We paused work on Poly after realizing it duplicated efforts by other organizations – from there, we shifted focus to revitalization initiatives. The technology and content were donated to Living Tongues, whose Living Dictionaries platform continues to serve similar purposes. As with Poly, anyone can create an account with Living Dictionaries and add their language, so the content is always growing.
Upon writing this (October 2024), we have resources in 820 languages—over 10% of the world’s languages!
We offer several ways to collaborate with us in preserving and revitalizing your language:
– Submit an oral history: Start by recording a video of yourself or others speaking your language. Share traditional stories, conversations, or oral histories—anything that captures the essence of your language. Your video will be added to our archive, making it more accessible for others learning, reclaiming, or researching your language.
– Submit a lexicon or other resource: We also accept dictionaries, lexicons, and other language resources! Depending on licensing, these will be made available on our website. If you find an interesting resource, you can also send it in so that we can list it as an external resource on the language page.
– Download our toolkits: Our free toolkits provide step-by-step guidance on how to document your language, how to start community programs, and how to use Wikimedia tools.
– Apply for the Language Revitalization Fellowship Program: If your language is endangered or in need of revitalization, you can apply for our Language Revitalization Fellowship. This annual cohort program provides support and resources for community-led efforts to promote the use of languages through education, technology, and documentation.
– Join our user group and add your language to Wikipedia: You can also promote your language by joining our Wikitongues user group. Together, we collaborate to add underrepresented languages to platforms like Wikipedia, making knowledge available in your language and increasing its visibility online.
Applications typically open in December. You can find more updated information on our Fellowship program page.
We support any endangered, Indigenous, minoritized, under-resourced, and/or under-supported language. Our cohort program has worked with communities reawakening their languages, with no fluent speakers, and language communities that have as many as 15 million users.
Yes, although unfortunately not as common as other funding categories. Apart from our Language Revitalization Fellowship, you can view this spreadsheet, where we add any grants that we learn about.
Yes, we welcome all language translations! Please send us an email at hello@wikitongues.org so that we can share the working draft of the document you would like to translate.
Oral histories are hosted on our website, unless further privacy is requested. In addition, select videos, depending on their licensing agreements, are shared with other significant archives and platforms:
We typically archive videos once a week (the last two weeks of December Wikitongues is closed for the holidays, so archiving is delayed in that period). Once your video has been downloaded and archived, you will receive an automated email from us. Once that occurs, your video will be available on the website within 24-48 hours.
Yes, we would love that! You can submit your video here. All videos are accepted. However, for best quality, we recommend filming a video at least 2 minutes long, with minimal background noise, and filmed in a landscape setting. For more detailed guidelines, download our oral history guide.
Our motto is Every Language in the World, so we welcome every and all languages!
We accept a variety of language-related content, including oral histories, lexicons, and external resources. We’re also open to other types of submissions, so if you have something unique in mind, feel free to reach out!
Yes, you can edit or update your information (including changing your licensing) at any time. Please send us an email at hello@wikitongues.org, using the same email address that you originally used. If you no longer have access to that email account, we will ask for a form of identification so that we can confirm it is you.
You can search for the language in the search bar in the top left corner of our website. On the language page, you will find any resources that we have in our archive, any relevant fellowship projects, and links to external resources (if we have them for that language). If you’re not sure what language you would like to learn about, click the global icon in the navigation and be surprised!
We are happy to ! Send us a message at hello@wikitongues.org.
Yes! We are a small team, with a limited budget, so we cannot promise that we will be able to create the resources. However, we would love to hear your ideas! And if we are not able to help, we will be able to put you in touch with someone who can.
Usually, yes, but it depends on the purpose. Please send us an email at hello@wikitongues.org with the link to the video you would like to use and where you would like to use it. If the video is not licensed under the correct license for your use case, we will suggest alternatives for you.
You can submit an .srt file (SubRip Subtitle file) directly to our team. This file should contain the time-coded transcription of the video in the desired language, allowing us to properly sync the subtitles with the spoken content. If you’re unfamiliar with creating an .srt file, you can find detailed instructions on page 7 of our oral history guide. Once your .srt file is ready, please send it to hello@wikitongues.org, and we will review and integrate it into the video.
We utilize an up-to-standard archival schema, created in collaboration with CUNY Queens College, Dropbox for secure storage of our materials, and Make to streamline our workflows. These tools enable us to efficiently manage and preserve linguistic data.
Yes, we welcome all language translations! Please send us an email at hello@wikitongues.org so that we can share the working draft of the document you would like to translate.
We paused work on Poly after realizing it duplicated efforts by other organizations – from there, we shifted focus to revitalization initiatives. The technology and content were donated to Living Tongues, whose Living Dictionaries platform continues to serve similar purposes. As with Poly, anyone can create an account with Living Dictionaries and add their language, so the content is always growing.
Access the Public Archival View here. This is a live database, so all information is updated in real time.
Usually, yes, but it depends on the purpose. Please send us an email at hello@wikitongues.org with the link to the video you would like to use and where you would like to use it. If the video is not licensed under the correct license for your use case, we will suggest alternatives for you.
Yes, we offer various forms of training to help individuals and communities get involved in language preservation. Our primary resource is a collection of toolkits designed to guide you through documenting and sharing your language, whether you’re recording oral histories or building a community program. In addition to these toolkits, we occasionally host webinars and workshops where you can learn directly from our team and guest experts. Sign up for our newsletter to stay posted.
Yes! We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and so donations are tax-deductible in the United States. Always make sure to keep a record of your donation, such as a receipt or confirmation, especially if the donation is over a certain amount, as the IRS may require documentation for larger charitable contributions.
Yes, we occasionally host online and in-person fundraising events to support our mission. To stay informed about upcoming events, subscribe to our newsletter for updates on future campaigns and opportunities to get involved. If you’re interested in helping us organize or host a fundraising event, we’d love to hear from you! Please reach out to us at hello@wikitongues.org to discuss how we can collaborate.
We welcome collaboration opportunities! Please reach out to us at hello@wikitongues.org. While we are a small team with a limited budget, we do our best to consider each opportunity thoughtfully.
Thank you for helping us out! We run our website ourselves, so we are grateful for any bugs or challenges reported. Please send us an email at hello@wikitongues.org.
We utilize an up-to-standard archival schema, created in collaboration with CUNY Queens College, Dropbox for secure storage of our materials, and Make to streamline our workflows. These tools enable us to efficiently manage and preserve linguistic data.
We paused work on Poly after realizing it duplicated efforts by other organizations – from there, we shifted focus to revitalization initiatives. The technology and content were donated to Living Tongues, whose Living Dictionaries platform continues to serve similar purposes. As with Poly, anyone can create an account with Living Dictionaries and add their language, so the content is always growing.
Our primarily used resource is our Language Archive, where you can find oral histories from almost 800 languages around the world. This is a great place to start to explore our world’s diversity! If you would like to learn more about the importance of maintaining this diversity, you can read in-depth posts on our blog.
Here are a handful of ideas to help you get started:
Yes! We are a small team, with a limited budget, so we cannot promise that we will be able to create the resources. However, we would love to hear your ideas! And if we are not able to help, we will be able to put you in touch with someone who can.