At Sunbird Trust, we understand not only the value of everything but also the price of its loss. That’s why today, on the World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, we would like to share a song with you. Sung by the youth from one of our communities in Dima Hasao District of Assam, sang in Hindi and Biate- the latter a language which we are taking concrete steps to preserve and revive.
According to the ‘Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger’ published by UNESCO in 2009, the Biate language, belonging to the Kuki-Chin subgroup of the Tibeto-Burman language family, is one of 196 endangered languages of India; as it is not documented.
What is Sunbird Trust doing in the face of this silent crisis? Our proud answer is “The Biate Language Revival Project”. As part of this project, we are working towards introducing the language as a subject and as the medium of instruction in schools, collecting stories from the Biate oral tradition and getting them translated as well as creating theatre and music projects in Biate. We are making an active effort to preserve the rich lingual heritage of India. Sunbird Trust believes in making quality education available to the under-resourced communities in Northeast India while respecting their cultures, languages, and traditions.
The Biate Language Revival Project is a token of our vision of building bridges between communities.