The Hakka Digital Archive Project: Preserving Cultural Treasures and Promoting Cultural Rights in Thailand

Language and culture of any ethnic group is valuable ancestral heritage and intangible cultural heritage of any country. Thailand has more than 70 ethnic groups who should be encouraged to use their language in daily communication in order to preserve its multicultural society. If their language is lost, it means their identity and wisdom will also be lost. Linguists at Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia (RILCA), Mahidol University have been working with more than 20 ethnic groups on language revitalization. We found that most ethnic groups wish to preserve or revive their language and culture and transfer them on to the new generation. Both small and large groups are at risk of language decline, including Hakka which is a Chinese dialect. As linguists, we should help them as much as possible before their language and culture disappears. I have already collected a corpus of data from Hakka folktales but have not yet to digitise the data. At present, there are a number new and advanced software applications which are used to document and archive language and culture knowledge. I am interested in learning these skills. I would like to become an expert in documentation using linguistic software such as ELAN, Lexique Pro, FLEx, Say more, Praat, etc. For that reason I decided to collaborate with linguists at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London which is famous for language documentation and archiving. During my six month visit to SOAS, I have gained much knowledge in this field and I have exchanged my expertise in language revitalization with SOAS staff. For further collaboration, RILCA staff and SOAS staff will develop a research project together for training new linguistic researchers. The results of my visit will be a model for digital archiving of other endangered language groups in Thailand.