This project is recording and transcribing indigenous languages of Papua New Guinea, using voice recorders donated by Olympus.  We hope to collect narratives, dialogues and songs for 100 languages in the course of 2010, a total of 1,000 hours of audio, partially transcribed and translated.  Materials will be freely available for non-commercial use.

Language workers contribute a total of a week of their time, during a 12 month period, to attend training, make recordings, provide oral annotations, and do transcription work.  It is expected that this work will complement other activities, such as tertiary education, language development, or linguistic research.

Why?  Consider this analogy: It takes lots of people to build a house; the same people might benefit from the work, but so do others, both now and far into the future.  Similarly, many people are collaborating in collecting language resources, and this will lead to print publications, audio publications, and a long-term archive.  The local community should benefit from having materials in their first language.  Researchers in other countries should benefit from being able to learn about the language and culture.  Future generations should benefit from having access to detailed information about past societies, including languages which can no longer be heard.

When?  The main phase of the project begins on UNESCO International Mother Language Day 2010, and ends 12 months later.  UNESCO has designated 2010 "International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures".  The project supports that theme by securing linguistic heritage from multiple PNG cultures, for access by all.  The three activities of the project will be timed as follows: