The National Language Service Corps attends the Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Summer is a time of recreation and extreme weather conditions. For the National Language Service Corps (NLSC), summer is a time to connect with Members and learn about the endangered languages of the world. Despite the blazing 92 degree weather, over 65 NLSC members, staff, and friends united to attend the 42^nd Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on Saturday, July 6^th as an activity for the NLSC Washington, D.C. Regional Chapter.

This year, One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage Festival, was a special component of the festival that highlighted language diversity as a vital part of human heritage.  The festival included an extensive schedule of outdoor exhibits and cultural performances from communities around the world that focus on preserving and revitalizing endangered languages. The Smithsonian website notes, “ancestral tongues embody cultural knowledge, identity, values, technologies, and arts.” NLSC members witnessed the diversity of many ancestral tongues by collectively attending two informative sessions-- Language & Technology sessions as well as a cultural dance and song performance of the Garifuna Wanaragua people who originated on the island of St. Vincent.

This Chapter activity is one of many exceptional opportunities for face-to-face interactions with NLSC membership and the community. The languages represented by the NLSC attendees included: Mandarin, French, Italian, Spanish, Hausa, Hindi, Korean, German, Japanese, Polish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Russian, and Portuguese. This summer festival provided a shared occasion for NLSC staff, Members, and friends to increase their knowledge of endangered languages and the importance of language sustainment.