RevitaLang

• 

  Language Learning Page

• 

  Video & Storytelling Library Page

• 

  Video Upload Page

Intro

Language extinction is a threat for various indigenous languages throughout the world. The combined impact of colonialism, the imposed conformity of a mainstream language, along with the migration of younger generations to urban centers, led traditional languages and dialects face a shrinking generation of native speakers.

RevitaLang is a mobile application that works to change this reality. Our team was inspired by the learning method of "language nests" in which elders of the community interact with young children through relevant songs, stories and play -- immersing them in their traditional language. With RevitaLang, we aim to replicate this experience for second or third generation individuals who seek to reconnect with their linguistic heritage.

How it works

RevitaLang is centered on two main components:

1) Language Learning: we created short sets of activities centered on different day-to-day elements which learners can use to practice their vocabulary and grammar. We believe the authentic source of linguistic knowledge should come directly from the community's native speakers, which is why we have not incorporated AI into the generation of educational content for the app. The courses are meant to be originally created by first-language speakers for second-language learners.

2) Cultural reconnection through cross-generational storytelling: we have included a video section where members of the community can upload videos from the community's elders, who have a higher proficiency over the language, to share traditional stories and songs, so as to bridge distances for learners who may not reside in the community's main location.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges we ran into involved the ideation process. We had long brainstorming sessions centered how to enhance the language learning experience for the individual while also incorporating a community-based aspect. After discovering about the language nest learning method, we were inspired to create a video upload section which would serve the goals of

1) Promoting the digital inclusion of the community's elders into the documentation and sharing of the language;

2) Enhancing the learner's language immersion experience through the use of storytelling and cross-generational connection.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of having incorporated elements which would make the UI more accessible for seniors in traditional communities. Our interface is minimalistic, with large icons and devoid of a clutter of controls and animations. We have also included the main app configurations in indigenous languages so as to make the navigation more intuitive for the elders and enhance the language immersion for learners.

Conclusion and Next Steps

RevitaLang currently supports four languages native to indigenous communities in Brazil. Beyond TreeHacks, we seek to expand our language database to other indigenous communities around the world, providing language learning support for the growth of native speaker communities of endangered languages. Other technical next steps involve the inclusion of text-to-speech configurations to improve the UI's accessibility and incorporate video querying activities through Multimodal RAG.

As a parallel goal, we hope that our app serves as a live documentation of high quality data on endangered languages which could be used to diversify the linguistics context of LLMs, with the respective consent of the communities impacted by RevitaLang.

Built With

• firebase
• flutter