Endangered Language Fund

10/12/2026

📚💛 A new chapter for the Udi language!

We're thrilled to celebrate the successful completion of an Endangered Language Fund-supported project dedicated to preserving and revitalizing the Udi language in Georgia!

Developed in collaboration with community language experts, this beautifully illustrated Udi language primer is designed to make language learning more accessible, particularly for younger generations.

Following an initial community presentation in the Udi village of Zinobiani in July, the completed publication was officially launched in Tbilisi on September 28, 2026, in celebration of Udi Language Day! 🎉

Even more exciting? Plans are underway to distribute these textbooks to children in Zinobiani in the coming months, helping bring the Udi language into the hands and hearts of the next generation.

Projects like this demonstrate the incredible impact of community-led language revitalization. We're honored to support the people working to preserve, celebrate, and pass on their linguistic and cultural heritage.

Congratulations to everyone who helped bring this meaningful project to life! 🌍💛

Learn more about funding and donation opportunities at our website: endangeredlanguagefund.org

10/09/2026

Join the Endangered Languages Project and the Language Documentation Training Center for the 2026 Language Documentation Learning Series!

This FREE, 9-week online course brings together language champions from around the world to explore how to record, document, and preserve languages for future generations. 🌱

Whether you're just beginning your language documentation journey or looking to connect with others doing this important work, there's a place for you here! No prior experience or education required. ❤️

🔗 Register: https://bit.ly/2026langdoc

Help us spread the word and empower more communities to keep their languages thriving! 🗣️🌍

10/06/2026

Please Help Support the Endangered Language Fund in Celebrating 30 years of language revitalization, supporting communities, and helping Languages Thrive!

ELF has supported over 400 communities and Languages over three decades. ELF has funded indigenous scholars and native communities globally, including the funding of UNESCO Internships, attendance at COLang, and PhD candidates involved in language documentation and archiving. Our Volunteer board and Officers are passionate about mother tongue reclamation and we are one of the few non profits directly funding community - lead projects!

Please help us continue our mission in to the future!

Donate: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/endangeredlanguagefundinc/

09/22/2026

What does it mean to truly be understood — in your own language, in your community, and in an increasingly digital world? 🌍💬

For the fifth year, we are coming together with Translation Commons to mark International Translation Day as part of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages!

This year, “Linguistic Diversity and Language Rights: The Power of Being Understood” will explore how we can ensure that linguistic diversity is respected and strengthened — from community action and language rights to translation technologies, AI and the digital world.

🗓️ 30 September 2026
⏰ 14:00 UTC
💻 Online

Save the date and join the conversation! ✨

🔗 More information: https://bit.ly/4gXl7Rk

09/08/2026

Community, connection, and language reclamation in action 💛

With support from Endangered Language Fund scholarships, participants attended CoLang 2026 and joined language champions from around the world for hands-on learning, collaboration, and community building.

From exploring language technology, stop-motion animation, keyboard development, and Indigenous approaches to language assessment to exchanging ideas and forming lasting friendships, CoLang offered tools and connections participants can carry directly into their own communities and language work.

As one scholarship recipient shared, “CoLang has strengthened both my knowledge and my commitment to supporting Indigenous language documentation, revitalization, and reclamation.”

We are honored to help make experiences like these possible and deeply grateful to our scholarship recipients for sharing these wonderful photos and reflections with us!

08/19/2026

The Endangered Language Fund supports the revitalization of Native languages in Indigenous communities globally. Below is a link to a talk about the lifespan of languages by ELF's former Secretary Claire Bowern, (Yale University) and Jessie Little Doe Baird (Wapanaak). Language growth and decline across long time spans is the general topic, with additional discussion of revival of the Wapanaak language from historical sources, which most felt to be impossible. Native language programs are helping "dormant" languages and their communities thrive throughout the US, Australia and elsewhere.

First up, MIT economist Jon Gruber on economic incentives to get people out of cars and onto public transportation.Then, we’re welcoming back Gal Tziperman Lotan, who’s got Four Things to Know for August 11th. Lastly, Yale Linguist Claire Bowern joins with Wampanoag Linguist Jessie Little Doe Ba...

08/17/2026

The Endangered Language Fund is happy to announce that applications are now open for the 2026 Native Voices Endowment. Please visit our website to learn more about applying. 🌍 🪴

08/03/2026

This is a super fascinating article by Claire Bowern, a member of the Endangered Language Fund's Board of Directors, and her colleagues. It's a powerful reminder of why documenting, supporting, and revitalizing the world's languages matters. 🌍

A new study coauthored by Yale linguist Claire Bowern suggests that tens of thousands of languages were spoken between 1,000 and 3,000 years ago.

07/13/2026

Congratulations to the recipients of ELF's CoLang 2026 Scholarships!

These scholarships support attendance at the Institute on Collaborative Language Research (CoLang), helping strengthen the next generation of language documentation, revitalization, and community-based language work.

🌿 Evelyn Thomas is a Chickasaw citizen, Chickasaw language carrier, educator, and software specialist who teaches Chikashanompaꞌ online and throughout the Chickasaw Treaty Territory. She also develops software solutions for language archives, bringing together technology and language revitalization to support her community.

🌿 Margaret Rivers Fegan (Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb) promotes Indigenous language use across Texas and Louisiana through community programming and cultural restoration. Her work with the Ho Minti Society's Yama/Mobilian restoration efforts is rooted in strengthening language, culture, and intertribal relationships.

🌿 Jefferson Saransig is a Kichwa speaker from Otavalo, Ecuador, and a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin. His research documents and supports the revitalization of Imbabura Kichwa while empowering Kichwa speakers to become documentarians of their own communities.

Congratulations to Evelyn, Margaret, and Jefferson! We are honored to support your participation in CoLang 2026 and look forward to seeing the impact your work will continue to have on Indigenous language communities around the world.

You can help us continue this work by supporting ELF as we celebrate 30 years!
www.secure.qgiv.com/for/endangeredlanguagefundinc/

05/07/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Language Rights, Health and Resilience: Global Partnerships Advancing Indigenous Well-Being and helped make the conversation so meaningful. We were honored to see such a wonderful turnout and to share space with so many passionate advocates, scholars, community leaders, and supporters of Indigenous languages.

As the Endangered Language Fund celebrates 30 years of supporting language revitalization efforts around the world, gatherings like this remind us why this work matters so deeply. Your support, engagement, and continued commitment help keep endangered languages alive for future generations. 💚

A huge thank you to our collaborators and everyone who stopped by, listened, connected, and supported ELF during this special event.

If you’d like to continue supporting our mission, you can donate here: https://donate.forgood.org/donation/06-1459207

Here’s to 30 years of advocacy, partnership, and language revitalization, we are looking forward to the work still ahead. 📚