Our Mission

The Language Documentation Training Center is a student organization founded in 2004 to support members of non-dominant language communities in language work, linguistics, and advocacy for their own languages.

Through our workshops, outreach events, and consultations, LDTC collaborates with members of various communities to provide training in language documentation, linguistics, linguistics and language revitalization software, and creative language materials development. We assist language holders in creating the materials and documentation records they identify as necessary in their own communities. Focused on capacity building and community engagement, we aim to increase the visibility of under-resourced languages, especially in diaspora, and to promote pride in speaking, learning, and sharing our languages.

What we do

LDTC hosts in-person and online workshops on a variety of language documentation and revitalization topics. These workshops are open to all ages and backgrounds. Recent workshops have included:

• Video and audio recording
• Linguistic analysis softwares like ELAN and FLEx
• Developing task-based language learning tools
• Podcasting
• Stop-motion animation
• Literacy materials development using BloomBooks and ReadAlong Studio
• Incorporating Indigenous art into language materials
• Discussion groups on Internet and social media representation for under-resourced languages

If you are interested in having LDTC teach a workshop for your community, please reach out to us at ldtc@hawaii.edu. We look forward to working with you to develop a workshop program that meets your needs, inside or outside of Hawaiʻi!

We partner with different community and linguistic organizations to bring language documentation into the hands of speakers. Some current collaborations include:

• Diaspora Languages Project in Hawaiʻi (DLPHI), which supports Micronesian diaspora language use and research here in Hawaiʻi
• Kaipuleohone Language Archive
• Endangered Languages Project (ELP)

We also host and attend community outreach events. If you are interested in collaborating, volunteering, or donating, please reach out at ldtc@hawaii.edu.