What is SIL International?
Founded over 70 years ago, SIL International is a faith-based organization that studies, documents, and assists in developing the world’s lesser-known languages. SIL’s staff shares a Christian commitment to service, academic excellence, and professional engagement through literacy, linguistics, translation, and other academic disciplines. SIL makes its services available to all without regard to religious belief, political ideology, gender, race, or ethnic background.
SIL (initially known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) has grown from a small summer linguistics training program with two students in 1934 to a staff of over 5,000 coming from over 60 countries. SIL’s linguistic investigation exceeds 1,800 languages spoken by over 1.2 billion people in more than 70 countries.
Beginnings
The organization grew out of one man’s concern for people speaking lesser-known languages that lacked written alphabets. Originally from the U.S.A., William Cameron Townsend moved to Guatemala to live cross-culturally in a Mayan village. There he learned a Cakchiquel language, began language and educational development, and promoted Bible translation. After years in Guatemala, he expanded his vision to many similarly disadvantaged peoples of the world.
Partnership
SIL works with host governments, nongovernmental agencies, indigenous organizations, and academic institutions worldwide as well as with churches and local communities. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has granted formal consultative status to SIL. Such affiliations help maintain global links, policy dialogue, and information exchange.
Languages
SIL focuses on unwritten languages. People who speak these languages often live in geographic, social, and economic isolation. Studying these languages results in practical help for local people and contributes to the broader knowledge of linguistics, anthropology, and ethnomusicology. SIL publishes its research and widely distributes it to libraries, universities, governments, and international agencies.
As a leader in the research of the world’s endangered languages through language survey, SIL facilitates language development to prevent the extinction of language and culture.
SIL’s premier publication, the Ethnologue: Languages of the World, is a comprehensive catalog of the world’s more than 6,900 living languages.
Language Technology
SIL researches and develops computer software, such as Speech Analysis Tools, to assist language research. In addition, the Non-Roman Script Initiative is a team within SIL that provides guidance, information, research, and development to facilitate the use of non-Roman scripts in linguistic study, translation, literacy, and publishing.
Literacy
The ability to read is the key to development at personal, local, and national levels. SIL focuses on community-based programs for lesser-known language communities. It assists in training local people to assume increasing responsibility for sustainable literacy programs in their own communities and languages.
SIL also assists local, regional, and national agencies that are developing formal and informal education in vernacular languages. These cooperative efforts enable new advances in the complex field of educational development in multilingual and multicultural societies.
Translation
SIL works in partnership with local speakers to adapt or translate literature for publication on subjects such as nutrition, farming, health (including HIV/AIDS), and some or all of the Bible. SIL’s involvement and the Scripture translation goals for each language are decided in close interaction with churches and communities, and often with other partnership groups or organizations.
Training
SIL offers training for language work in partnership with educational institutions and other organizations at more than 20 locations around the world. Courses are taught by faculty from the partner institution and from SIL. Classes offered include phonetics, phonology, grammar, language learning, linguistic field methods, cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics, literacy, translation, and language program planning.
Professors have a broad range of field experience and a commitment to high academic standards. Their expertise is acquired through advanced studies in various universities and colleges worldwide. Graduates of SIL’s training are working on six continents, serving with SIL or in partner organizations.
SIL continues to conduct workshops within communities to train local leadership in language-related topics, enabling them to become trainers themselves. The local language is used as the medium of instruction whenever applicable.
Community Service
One of SIL’s goals is people-centered development, therefore the organization gives priority to training local people in ways that help them develop their full potential. SIL integrates language and literacy skills with other forms of community development. These include practical training to coincide with written materials on agriculture, health, sanitation, spiritual growth, and other topics requested by local communities.
Funding
Resources for SIL’s work are provided primarily by affiliated organizations in various parts of the world. Major contributors include affiliated member organizations of Wycliffe International, which have a goal of promoting the translation of Christian Scriptures into the world’s languages where appropriate. Grants from private corporations and foundations as well as funding from various government agencies have assisted SIL in its literacy and other related projects. In addition, most SIL workers develop individual funding resources for particular projects and personal support.