Group working to help preserve indigenous languages featured at National Congress of American Indians’ convention in Sacramento
KCRA | November 2, 2022
There’s an effort to save indigenous languages that are in danger of disappearing. The National Congress of American Indians’ annual convention is happening this week in Sacramento.
One of the groups with a booth is The Language Conservancy.
It has a new Lakota dictionary with more than 20,000 languages and phrases. They also have picture books and apps.
They say most people who speak these languages are older and they need kids and young adults to learn to keep the languages alive for future generations.
“Kids can just download a QR code, download the dictionary. They can hear the language, press the button. They say it’s like having grandma or grandpa in their pocket. They can just pull up the word they’ve been wanting to learn about and hear their grandma or grandpa or relative speak the language and help accelerate the learning.”
The conference goes until Thursday at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center.
