Using readily available technologies such as laptop and tablet computers and compact digital recording equipment, First Nations language champions are engaged and inspired to learn technical skills for language documentation. As they work with elders to archive words and stories through digital and video recording, they bring hope to fluent speaking elders who are concerned that their language be passed on. But documentation alone will not revitalize a language. We understand that to truly revitalize our languages we need to make them an everyday part of young people’s lives. Our latest achievement, the FirstVoices Chat app, provides the tool for First Nations people, especially youth, to chat with friends in their own languages.

Problem

Fluent speakers First Nations languages of B.C. are disappearing A familiar proverb tells us that "when an elder dies, a library burns to the ground". This makes the death of a language an inconceivable and irreversible loss of legacy to mankind. Yet this is what is happening here today. B.C. is considered by National Geographic to be a “hotspot” of endangered languages with 34 distinct languages and multiple dialects. The last fluent speakers are elders and they are dying. This matters not only to our First Nations communities. This matters to the health and well-being of all British Columbians.

Solution

Using readily available technologies such as laptop and tablet computers and compact digital recording equipment, First Nations language champions are engaged and inspired to learn technical skills for language documentation. As they work with elders to archive words and stories through digital and video recording, they bring hope to fluent speaking elders who are concerned that their language be passed on. But documentation alone will not revitalize a language. We understand that to truly revitalize our languages we need to make them an everyday part of young people’s lives. Our latest achievement, the FirstVoices Chat app, provides the tool for First Nations people, especially youth, to chat with friends in their own languages.

Example

At the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board on the Tsartlip Reserve in Central Saanich, a revolution in language revitalization is sending an inspiring message of hope to Indigenous language champions here in B.C. and around the world. At the very site of the original vision for FirstVoices, programs and activities from the immersion ‘language nest’ pre-school to adult classes bear witness to the successful blending of innovation and tradition. Preschoolers are named in SENĆOŦEN and speak the language daily. Their parents regularly text and consult their SENĆOŦEN dictionaries on their iPods, iPhones and iPads. Language apprentices in their mid-twenties are stepping up as the latest generation of activists determined to continue the trail-blazing work of their parents and ensure that they are capable of passing their language on to their young children. FirstVoices language technologies played an important role in all these activities.

Marketplace

Universities, linguists and governments have documented languages over the years, and some universities have Indigenous language programs. While these have met with some success in documenting language, there is always the problem that the information remains locked away in urban institutions rather than in First Nations communities. This means there is a disconnect between the knowledge base and the learning. What sets us apart is that FirstVoices works directly in communities, always in a manner responsive to the local needs. All language data is owned by the communities and they have control over what is made public and what is considered culturally sensitive or private. FirstVoices makes language tools accessible to all those working with communities to revitalize their languages.