Why It Matters Languages Vanish Under the Radar
Every day, a language disappears somewhere in the world. In B.C. and beyond, more than 6,000 languages are at real risk of being lost forever.
For communities whose heritage lives in those languages, that’s not just a loss of words it’s a loss of identity, stories, History, meaning.
So when a group of technologists and Indigenous partners say “we can help,” that promise draws attention.
Meet the Innovators How Tech Is Giving Voices Back
A Victoria-based ed-tech company, Language Foundry, is tackling this problem head-on. Their mission: help endangered and at-risk languages live on with dignity, respect, and community control.
Here’s how it works: elders and fluent speakers record their native language. Then, using technology, Language Foundry builds digital language models. Finally, those communities retain full ownership of their recordings safeguarding cultural sovereignty and data safety.
From those building blocks, the company builds gamified courses so learners of any age can practice vocabulary, pronunciation and phrases, in a format that feels engaging and culturally meaningful.
As of 2025, Language Foundry’s platform supports 14 different Indigenous languages, with over 10,000 students across Canada and the U.S. already using it.
More Than Words Language Revival Helps Healing & Health
Reviving an ancestral language isn’t only about culture. New research shows strong links between Indigenous-language use and improved health outcomes. Communities where languages are spoken tend to report better mental health, stronger social bonds, better school performance and even lower suicide rates among youth.
In other words: saving a language can also help save lives.
Tech + Community What’s Working (and What’s Sensitive)
Tools like those from Language Foundry (and similar efforts such as FirstVoices) offer practical benefits:
- They make language learning accessible from home no matter where you live.
- They give youth and younger generations a way to connect with elders and ancestral heritage, bridging generational divides.
- They make documentation and preservation easier audio recordings, dictionaries, interactive lessons help keep languages alive even as fluent speakers age.
At the same time, these technologies depend heavily on trust: communities must retain control over recordings and data to avoid cultural appropriation. Initiatives like Language Foundry center that respect and ownership from the start.
What’s Next Can Tech Turn Loss Into Revival?
With growing interest in language revitalization across B.C. and Canada, tech-driven revival might soon become more common. Already, governments like the BC Data Service are working on standards so official systems can support Indigenous language characters: names, places, documents.
Coupled with community-driven programs and funding for example through grants from agencies like First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC) there’s real momentum behind preserving languages for future generations.
If people keep embracing these tools, and communities stay empowered to lead the process then technology could indeed help make endangered languages speak again.
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