From a Golden Pot to the Global Stage

As a native speaker of Bengali, a language that Bangladeshis fought for, I have a respect for mother tongues. I can feel the emotion for languages. That's why whenever I get the opportunity, I try to work towards the visibility of other underrepresented languages.

As an open knowledge advocate, I have always believed in openness and inclusion. That is how I started working on language preservation three to four years ago. I tried to preserve some of the Indigenous languages of Bangladesh, including Garo, Marma and Chakma. I recorded and digitised their intangible assets like languages, cultures and heritage with whatever resources I had. I did not have much professional experience as a language archivist, but I drew on previous experience in open knowledge to try and apply some methods my team and I were familiar with, in order to get started.

Later, with the help of several international organisations, I started Project ShoiUku with my team to digitise the Chak language in Bangladesh so that it would not disappear entirely. Chak is one of the most endangered languages in Bangladesh. Approximately 3,000 people in Bangladesh and 1,000 in Myanmar speak the language. Most young Chak people are reluctant to learn it because it doesn’t add much value to their lives. They have to learn Bengali and English for education and can use their language only for communication within their community. As a result, very few elders remain who know the language well. This raises concerns about the language's eventual extinction.

That is what prompted me to work with this language. We also had my friend Mong Hai Thoway Chak from the Chak community in our team, which made it much easier to access resources and build connections with the community. Thanks to Mong and his super helpful family, who made everything so much easier. Whenever we tried to work with other languages, one of the first barriers we faced was gaining the community's trust and participation. The name of the project itself has an interesting background. “ShoiUku” is a word from the Chak language that means "Golden Pot". Historically, during times of war or natural calamities, the Chak people would bury their most precious belongings including gold and money inside pots. They would hide them in the ground to retrieve later when peace returned. Language is like the precious thing that we are trying to protect.

Using technology to protect Chak

We began our preservation efforts in Naikkhangchori, Bandarban, by recording words, phrases, numerals and other basic elements of the language. The endeavour is still ongoing. We are working towards developing a keyboard so that Chak speakers can use their language on digital platforms, as well as exploring AI models, optical character recognition (OCR) and other technologies.

We are trying to preserve the language through technology, which could help keep it alive even when no one speaks it anymore. The language might no longer be used in everyday life, but it would not disappear entirely because technology would still be able to recognise and understand it.

While my team and I were working on this project, Wikitongues, the organisation that supported our work, announced its first international conference in Accra, Ghana, bringing together language activists from around the world. The announcement caught my attention because I had always wanted to meet the colleagues I had worked with for so long but had never met in person.

I applied for funding to attend the conference, but I was sceptical about whether I would make it. I had previously missed several international conferences because my visa applications were rejected. So, even after receiving a fully funded invitation, I prepared myself for another rejection. Fortunately, my e-visa application was approved in just one hour, finally breaking my visa curse. However, I still could not be completely sure that I would make it, as I had heard many troubling stories about the experiences of Bangladeshis at immigration. Even when I arrived at the airport six hours before my flight, I was mentally preparing myself to return home without boarding. As expected, the immigration experience was difficult, and I managed to board my flight only 20 minutes before that, however, is a story for another day..

A journey to the global language-preservation community

This time, luck was on my side. After a 12 hours long flight, I finally reached Accra. That was just the beginning of discovering amazing people and learning about the incredible projects taking place around the world to preserve languages. The three-day, in-person conference was hosted by the Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub, Wikitongues and Wikimedia UK, in collaboration with the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group. It brought together more than 100 language activists representing over 82 language communities in Accra, Ghana.

Honestly, the conference changed the way I think about language preservation. While working on my project, I had been focused on our own structure and the knowledge we had developed. But talking to other activists and exchanging experiences opened up new horizons for me. We had been struggling with certain challenges, only to discover that others had already found solutions to similar problems. Different people were using different methodologies to run their projects, and sharing those experiences in one place strengthened everyone's capacity.

For me, the conference was also an opportunity to finally meet colleagues with whom I had developed strong bonds despite never having met them in person. I also made new friends. By the time the conference ended, I was already brainstorming ideas for collaborative projects and thinking about how to implement new methods in my own work. The conference was not just about discussing projects and sharing technical ideas. There were dances, sightseeing, food and everything else that made me fall in love with Ghana.

Returning home with renewed purpose

After facing several visa rejections and missing international conferences, this overwhelming experience gave me a renewed sense of motivation to continue working towards language preservation and revitalisation. It was not just an opportunity to represent Bangladesh on the global stage, but also a chance to learn, connect and return home with new ideas for the work ahead