SIL Global

Over a billion people worldwide lack access to books in their language—hindering literacy efforts and leaving communities without essential resources.

SIL's Bloom software changes that by empowering anyone to create books in their language. Local communities worldwide use Bloom to build libraries and preserve cultural heritage.

Help promote literacy in YOUR language! 📖

Check out Bloom: https://bloom.sil.org/

Meet Emmanuel, who grew up in Bambalang, a village in Northwest Cameroon, where the community speaks the Chrambo language.

Emmanuel spent much time in prayer wrestling with one question—was he meant to be a teacher or a pastor?

Learn about how his faith and talent for teaching intersected in an unexpected way: https://ow.ly/mW4Y50TeNEj

Happy International Literacy Day! 📚🌍

This year, the focus of is celebrating multilingual education efforts across the globe.

At SIL we believe supporting these initiatives helps broaden opportunities for everyone to learn, grow, and thrive.

We are THRILLED to be joining the global UNESCO celebration in Cameroon Sept. 9-10! 🎊

Learn more: https://ow.ly/4LVg50TeMgA

Did you know Panama is home to 8 indigenous languages? Bonus points if you can name one!

"The loss of any language represents a significant loss to humanity as a whole." —Dr. Michel Kenmogne

After the tragic shooting in Lewiston, Maine in 2023, SIL's Steve Moitozo (a longtime resident of Lewiston) saw the deep impact on the immigrant community, grappling with old and new traumas.

Already familiar with SIL’s successful trauma healing efforts, Moitozo teamed up with The Root Cellar to introduce a transformative trauma healing program in the community. This initiative aims to provide crucial mental health support and foster resilience and hope. ❤️‍🩹

“Trauma has a real deep effect on people, and it even rewires their brains. So it makes sense—if you’re going to do trauma work—that you do it in the languages that speak to the deepest part of people.”

A recent facilitator training included participants from Angola, Rwanda, and Brazil, who are now ready to lead healing groups across Lewiston and Portland.

Read more : https://www.sil.org/blog/healing-our-homes

Check out this conservation project in collaboration with A Rocha Kenya! 🌳

Have you ever wondered about the essential role that an indigenous community can play in the conservation efforts of any given ecosystem? Every ecosystem is surrounded by a community that has lived around or within it for some time. Unfortunately, when coming up with conservation ideas or ways of mitigating environmental hazards, these communities are often left out, every time!

"There are approximately 370 million indigenous peoples in the world. They own, occupy, or use up to 22 percent of the global land area, home to 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity. Often overlooked by governments, their role in safeguarding territories from environmental degradation has largely gone unnoticed and undocumented until recently."

This excerpts from a concept of the latest project that A Rocha Kenya is working on. This project is in conjunction with SIL Global, Summer Institute of Linguistics (a global, faith-based nonprofit that works with local communities worldwide to develop language solutions that expand possibilities for a better life.)

The objectives of the project include involving the Giriama people, a local community in coastal Kenya, in our conservation efforts. We also aim to make a case study in documenting Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with community members as they live adjacent to some of the world’s most important biodiversity hot spots such as the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and Dakatcha Woodlands.

More details about the project and the practical ways we plan to achieve this will be shared.

A story of hope.

Growing up in a village in West Asia, Wali* struggled in school. He couldn't understand the national language, which was used as the language of education in his province. After 6 years in school he was still unable to read and write at the level of his classmates, so he was moved to a lower grade. There he was by far the oldest student. The shame was almost too much to bear and eventually, Wali stopped going to school altogether.

When a mother tongue class was started in the village, Wali's father sent his son there, albeit with little hope. To everyone's amazement, Wali loved the new class. He became literate in his mother tongue within several months. His confidence grew, as did his skills. He moved on to learning the national language and later even went to university!

*Name/portrayal changed to safeguard vulnerable populations

How often do languages disappear?

According to Ethnologue—once every 40 days.

In this BBC Radio 4 podcast, Gary Simons, Ethnologue's executive editor, explains how they have determined the current rate of language death.

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less: Behind the Stats, Does a language die every two weeks? Languages are disappearing. We investigate claims of how often this happens.

“Being locally rooted has a lot to do with reflecting the diversity of God’s family. For us in SIL, this means finding ways of growing deeper roots in the places we serve, making space for everyone and making sure all voices are heard — regardless of their place of origin.” —Dr. Michel Kenmogne, SIL Executive Director

350 sign languages exist today, but only 1 has a complete Bible.

Read the inspiring story of the Mexican Sign Language Bible translation team, who have more than 70% of the New Testament complete: https://ow.ly/AtTO50SXFnC

After a recent Bloom training in Uganda among the Nyole, story writing in the community has taken off! Each week, members of the community bring hand-written stories to the team demanding more books.

Benayo, one of the participants, states, “We need Bloom, for literacy to swiftly develop in my community. Bloom is the only way to go because with it we can easily develop much more Nyole literature and other educational materials.”

New name. Same mission.

Introducing SIL Global. 🌏

For 90 years, we've partnered with communities around the globe to help people flourish through language development, education, and engagement with Scripture.

Read our news release: https://www.sil.org/about/news/new-name-90-sil-international-becomes-sil-global

🎊🌎 Happy International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples! 🌍🎊

There are over 7,000 languages in the world today—each representing a unique community and culture.

Join us today as we celebrate indigenous communities and the languages they speak and sign!

“Language is the road map of culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” —Rita Mae Brown

William Cameron Townsend, the principal founder of SIL, began cross-cultural work with the Kaqchikel people of Guatemala in 1919. Pictured here is his personal copy of the Kaqchikel New Testament (1929 edition). 📖

Basketry is the main source of income for the Mahali people, along with other traditionally crafted articles of bamboo. The name Mahali itself is derived from their word for bamboo! 🧺

We're cheering on all olympians—the best of the best athletes—as they compete for their various countries!

: In the Sursurunga language, 'lain' = good and 'lalain' = better than good! 🥇 Sursurunga is one of Papua New Guinea's 840 languages.

Today is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

Human trafficking threatens minority language communities largely due to the lack of resources promoting awareness in their languages. Members of these communities have a 7x greater likelihood of being trafficked.

Help us protect the vulnerable. .

You can make a difference toda‍y: https://give.sil.org/campaign/588531/donate

The Asia Region Anti-Trafficking Conference took place this week in Bali, Indonesia. Attendees gathered to better understand the current realities of human trafficking in Asia.

SIL explored collaboration with local organizations and advocated for an increase in the number of languages supported in anti-trafficking materials, particularly minority languages.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/tWp350SL143

Imagine you are Deaf. Your whole world is focused on seeing. Your eyes are the way you learn language.

Now imagine that you are told you are going blind and imagine the fear that arises as you realize you’ll be losing your way of communicating.

This year, SIL led its first DeafBlind workshop for both DeafBlind children and their parents.

Topics included guiding the DeafBlind, exploring tactile classroom props, tactile interpretation (a modification of a sign language incorporating touch so that it is more accessible to the DeafBlind), beginning sign language for parents, and more: https://ow.ly/OrgU50SIuOy

Celebrating a Milestone with Alpha Tiles!

We were thrilled to see the 100th language added to Alpha Tiles at a recent workshop.
Seeing participants and technicians work side-by-side to create innovative apps and solve complex problems was truly inspiring. This milestone is a testament to Alpha Tiles’ and SIL International’s commitment to inclusive and accessible education technology for all.

Check out Alpha Tiles at: https://alphatilesapps.org/

Here’s to many more achievements and the continued growth of this amazing tool!

Educators in the Solomon Islands use Bloom to create books that support Early Childhood Education.

Find out more on the SIL Blog: https://www.sil.org/blog/play-and-learn-home

Or check out West Kwaio books in the Bloom Library: https://bloomlibrary.org/language:kwd