Multilingual Cloud: saving Bangladesh’s endangered languagesCEFR A2
24 Aug 2025
Adapted from Nurunnaby Chowdhury, Global Voices • CC BY 3.0
Photo by litoon dev, Unsplash
Many Indigenous languages in Bangladesh are endangered. For example, the Kharia language is spoken by just five people. To help, the ICT Division began a project to digitize ethnic languages.
In July 2025 the initiative launched a website called Multilingual Cloud on the bangla.gov.bd portal. The site holds materials for 42 languages, including word lists, phrases, International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions and audio recordings.
The project will create fonts, keyboards and simple dictionaries and make language data and maps available online to support teaching and community use.
Difficult words
- indigenous — native to a region, present from earliest times
- endangered — at risk of disappearing or dying out
- digitize — convert information into digital computer form
- initiative — a new plan or action to solve something
- portal — a website that gives access to information
- transcription — a written representation of spoken soundstranscriptions
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Why do you think the project includes audio recordings for languages?
- How can fonts and keyboards help people use their language online?
- Do you know an endangered or small language near you? Describe it briefly.
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