Stories about Language and Indigenous
How India's Ho- and Santali-language content creators are holding space for Indigenous linguistic assertion
A 2022 study conducted in Ho and Santali, Indigenous languages from India, found that 70.4 percent of creators use their smartphones to create and upload content, though monetizing remains a major challenge.
How Africans are bridging the language digital divide
About 20 years ago, 80 percent of the world's online content was in English. Currently W3Tech estimates that 54.9 percent of websites with known content languages use English.
Central Asian leaders sigh with relief as Erdoğan wins presidential elections in Turkey
After a cooling off in the relations in the 1990s and early 2000s, the blossoming of cooperation between Turkey and Central Asia has come under Erdoğan’s rule.
Reporting from ‘the roof of the world': How Pamir Daily News works in Tajikistan
"I am sure that through such channels the decision centers receive a lot of things that they would never have been told through their official channels."
‘The task of achieving transitional justice in Taiwan remains unfinished': Interview with writer C.J. Anderson-Wu
Taiwanese translator turned anglophone writer C. J. Anderson-Wu explains in an interview how the need to convey Taiwan's experience of military dictatorship made her pick English as a creative language.
ÒCTele, a private TV station broadcasting in Occitan brings the language to France's public space
In southern France, a private TV initiative takes the safeguarding of the Occitan language to the next level by mainstreaming Occitan content for all age-category audiences over traditional and social media.
Digital technology: Promoting the use of Togolese national languages
In Togo, despite government intentions to promote the teaching of national languages other than French, this promotion mainly comes from private online initiatives.
Russian decolonisation and Eurasia: An imperial legacy? Risks and opportunities for Tatarstan
Public attention to political and economic inequality in Russia’s regions, stirred by the debate on decolonisation, represents a welcome and much-needed development
What does it take to revitalize a dying language?
Researcher and writer Uday Raj Aaley, together with resource person and the only fluent Kusunda speaker Kamala Sen Khatri, is on a mission to revive the language, once deemed moribund.
A look back at the Mayan Languages Digital Activism Summit 2023
From January 11-15, 2023, the Mayan Languages Digital Activism Summit convened digital activists and their communities to explore how the internet, digital media and technology are helping to revitalize Mayan languages in digital spaces.
Indigenous and proud: A Maya-speaker’s reaction to ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’
The values that my family fostered in me encouraged me to “Remember who you are, no matter where you want to go,” and the Indigenous communities now know that we can go a long way.
France's institutional fear of multilingualism: An interview with language activist Michel Feltin-Palas
France has always been a multilingual country, but central state institutions are reluctant to embrace this historical and cultural heritage, explains French journalist and language diversity activist Michel Feltin-Palas.
A Buryat voice calling on Russia to decolonize : Interview with Instagrammer Seseg Jigjitova
According to statistics, Russia is home to over 190 ethnic groups in which ethnic Russians account for around 80 percent of the total 146 million population. Yet Moscow maintains a Russian-centric discourse largely inherited from a Soviet colonial tradition. But its invasion of Ukraine has triggered new anti-colonial and anti-war...
Calls for interpreters build after NYC marathon winner Evans Chebet gets poor Kiswahili translation
Why have the race organisers, especially at the Abbott World Marathon Majors, never considered having professional interpreters, especially for the Kiswahili, Kalenjin, and Amharic languages? Many Africans online ask.
Meet Ganesh Birua, a champion who is bringing the indigenous Ho language online
Ganesh Birua is a young activist from the Indian state of Odisha. Rising Voices talked with Birua to learn about his efforts to bring his mother tongue to the internet.
‘Defending life:’ Indigenous way of life imperative to solving climate crisis
“Defending life means protecting the living conditions of biodiversity in order to continue to exist," Nahuatl journalist Miryam Vargas says.
Shagz Chronicles: The Kenyan podcast that wants you to fall in love with the Kikuyu language and culture
Translation of the Kikuyu language continues to be a major challenge. Shagz Chronicles wants to normalize both the oral and written Kikuyu in everyday life, both online and off.
‘Ancestral medicine is wisdom, not witchcraft or folklore,’ says Ecuadorian philosopher
Ecuadorian philosopher and writer Tayta Sinchi explains why it is imperative to learn about the fundamentals of ancestral medicine.
Meet Amrit Sufi, who is helping to bring the endangered Angika language onto digital platforms
Rising Voices interviewed Amrit Sufi, a researcher and academician, who is currently working on the digitization of endangered oral languages and cultures in India.
The legacy of Chile's last Yaghan speaker lives on
The passing of Cristina Calderón is a loss for the Yaghan Indigenous community, but she leaves behind numerous books about her language and culture for generations of Yaghan people to come.
First Mro language grammar book brings a ray of hope for the indigenous community
This year, the highlight of the International Mother Language Day in Bangladesh was the publication of the first grammar book written in Mro, an endangered indigenous language.