Wikitongues

7,000 languages are spoken or signed today, but at least 3,000 languages could disappear in a generation, erasing centuries of cultural, historical, and ecological knowledge.

People lose their mother tongues to economic exclusion, political oppression, or violence — but language extinction is not inevitable. With the right tools, anyone can learn their ancestral language and teach the next generation, keeping their culture alive.

To prevent language extinction, Wikitongues safeguards endangered languages and directly supports mother-tongue projects. Since 2014, we've crowdsourced resources for over 700 languages, or 10% of every language in the world, and helped grow 40 endangered languages across every continent. Now, after a decade of well-tested impact, we're ready to scale our reach by expanding our resources for language activists and growing our multilingual support staff.

Research shows that language revitalization leads to better school performance, precipitous declines in suicide, and more resilient communities. Moreover, when implemented alongside environmental education, mother-tongue projects have, according to UNESCO, improved land management and helped protect biodiversity.