United Nations declared 2019 as the international year of indigenous languages. The reason, each two weeks a native language disappears, and with it, it's ancestral knowledge.

Just in Colombia, there are more than 70 indigenous languages among 102 indigenous communities, and 41% of them are about to disappear; mostly because new generations aren't interested in their own language.

That's why we need to reconnect the younglings with it's oral tradition and help indigenous communities to recover it's own culture.

We developed Original Language. A content based education platform that was created to teach indigenous languages and rescue the most valuable asset of a nation, its tradition.

This series helped children from indigenous communities to learn their native tongues step by step, using the most watched tv shows by native kids.

How?

Through dubbing.

Professional voice over actors, dubbed each character voice in native languages, under the strict supervision of linguists and leaders for each community, to achieve the exact pronunciation and translation for each chapter.

We transmitted the series through local state channels, teaching kids from common words to basic structures and phrases construction.

Original Language has been turned into a useful educational platform for schools and teachers from each community.

The indigenous population from Colombia is above 1.5 million people and almost half of them are under 15 years old. That’s a whole new generation that hardly understands its native languages.

Partly because they feel ashamed of their roots, partly because their own parents don’t teach to them. Those kids are disconnected from their culture, and it’s a problem that needs to be solved.

It can be achieved by using the content that they are already consuming, TV shows of their favorite characters; to teach them colors, forms, numbers, animals and the alphabet to end with sentences construction.

We selected chapters from Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go!, having in mind the basics of language learning.

Then collaborated with ethnolinguists and community leaders from indigenous tribes to translate all the content into their own tongues.

Dubbing was done with professional voice over actors and under the strict supervision of native people.

The program is being distributed to teachers from ethnic schools and projected through local channels impacting kids from Wayuu, Misak, Arawak and Embera communities, and in process of translation, dubbing and distribution to other endangered native language speaking towns.

Nowadays we are covering from up north to south Colombian tribes, the project is still on air and growing.

Original Language is a new alternative for the indigenous communities, to reaffirm their traditions through their own native language and achieve revitalization of their culture.

It's becoming a vital tool for teachers and ethnoeducators from diverse indigenous tribes from Colombia, who can have a better engagement with kids through audiovisual content.

Now, children are learning the basics of their native languages through playful material, that reinforces their identity and sense of belonging, by watching their favourite characters talk in their own native tongue. They are feeling more open to adopt their language and culture.

This is only the first step of a growing learning platform.