In the Spring of 2004, the graduate students in linguistics created the Language Documentation Project to allow students in the Department of Linguistics the opportunity to give back to the international language community. This project is unique in that it trains speakers of underdocumented languages to work on documenting their own languages.

The goals are simple: native speakers spend a semester attending workshops on linguistics, language documentation techniques, relevant computer software, and issues in documentation. These sessions are taught by volunteers, who are graduate students in the University of Hawai'i at Manoa's Linguistics Department. In addition to attending workshops, each student is paired up with a graduate student. Working together they design a website designed to document basic information about the student’s language. At the end of the semester these projects are presented to the community and posted to the Languages page of this website.

It is our hope that students will become enthusiastic about what they learn about their languages, and continue work on documenting their language either here with us in subsequent semesters or back home in their own communities. We also hope that they will share this knowledge with their communities demonstrating that they can play an dynamic role in the preservation, maintenance, and continuation of their languages. The commitment of one person can make all of the difference.

Not only do the native speakers and their communities benefit from involvement in the LDTC, but the linguistics graduate student volunteers benefit as well. In addition to the training provided to native speakers, the graduate students in linguistics who serve as teachers and advisors learn that they can make a large impact on society by sharing their skills with others. Through teaching, graduate students gain experience in curriculum design, strengthen their understanding of core concepts in linguistics, and hone their communication skills. As an advisor, they have the opportunity to work one-on-one with a student thereby developing the interpersonal skills needed for fieldwork while gaining hands-on practice in explaining difficult concepts and analyzing real language data.