Native Group Helps Google Preserve Endangered Languages

B.C.’s First Peoples’ Cultural Council will oversee a Google project that seeks to preserve endangered indigenous languages.

A screenshot of the EndangeredLanguages.com homepage displays a map of disappearing languages around the world. A B.C. native group is partnering with Google to oversee the site in order to preserve and honour endangered languages locally and globally. ENDANGEREDLANGUAGES.COM

The First Peoples’ Cultural Council, a first nations-run Crown corporation based on Vancouver Island, has been chosen to oversee a project developed by Google that seeks to preserve endangered indigenous languages.

The Google Endangered Languages Project, launched June 21 to coincide with National Aboriginal Day, invites language experts from around the world to post videos, audio clips, books and other publications on its website to catalogue languages that are in danger of becoming extinct.