With the acceleration of globalization, the world is on the verge of losing many unique languages. According to UNESCO, approximately half of the world’s languages will disappear in the next 100 years. In Japan, the language of Okinawa, a former independent kingdom, is listed on the UNESCO endangered languages list. Losing the language is losing an essential part of the unique culture of the prefecture.

As Okinawan speakers are mainly the elderly, the speaking population is decreasing. It is important to pass on the language to the younger generation, but interest among the young was found to be low. The prefecture of Okinawa and the educational institutions were searching for a solution to save a precious part of the culture and identity.

To pass on the language to the younger generation of Okinawa, the smartphone, an everyday tool for young people, was chosen as the device. A project was created, where young people can have fun and proactively participate in the preservation of the language. Through workshops, young people connected with the elderly to learn about the language and together, they uploaded short movie clips expressing the meanings of the Okinawan words. The moving images provided an easy-to-learn way of passing on the words to all generations. By converting the meanings of the words of the historically significant language into movies that can be viewed on the smartphone, a totally new moving dictionary merging history and modern-day technology, was created.

The main target who are the young people of Okinawa, do not understand Okinawan very much even though they have been brought up in the prefecture, and are not very interested in the original indigenous language. According to a survey conducted by Okinawa Prefecture*, those who answered “I understand the language well.” only amounted to 0.4% of those in their teens, and 2.5% of those in their 20s.

So the strategy taken was to utilize the smartphone, which is central to their lives, and provide an experiential entertainment where the Okinawan words are expressed as short movie clips. This raised the engagement of young people, and created a system that they can continue to accumulate proactively.

*Source: Okinawa Prefecture language survey on Shimakutuba, 2018

Short movie clips expressing the definition of Okinawan words were jointly created by high school students and elderly native speakers. Various Okinawan citizens including children and their families, friends, residents of cities/towns, praised the project and created hundreds of their own movie clips describing Okinawan words for this website. Creating their own movie clips of their language and making a people’s dictionary generated a high conscientiousness toward the indigenous language. With the cooperation of native speakers and linguistic professors, a unique moving dictionary of an endangered language was created. By using the capability of the smartphone to participate easily, the dictionary became a fun and easy-to-access way to learn and use the Okinawan language, contributing to strengthening the identity of the Okinawan people.

Although promotional activities were postponed due to COVID-19, the public broadcasting network, NHK, and a number of Okinawa TV stations featured the project thanks to WOM and online news media during the lockdown. Media exposure amounted to 14 times the initial investment. More than 250 related video contents came through only in Okinawa within a week. Middle schools have asked to join this project as a part of their classes. Also, language professionals talked highly of the project, uplifting the mood among the educational institutions. It is expected to be a very effective method to pass on languages across the generations.

According to a public survey, it shows about 60% of the youth tend to be indifferent toward culture & legacy in general, while more than 90% of high school students who participated in workshops answered they “want to pass on their own language to the future.”