"Nuumte Oote"

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  "Nuumte Oote"

Inspiration

There are over 7000 spoken languages and the majority of people do not think about the endangered languages. A story about the last two fluent Ayapa Zoque speakers being at odds is what ignited my passion to ensure language preservation efforts.

What it does

This project displays Ayapaneco recordings and prompts the user to engage with the language by typing in what they hear. The submissions would be collected and stored in a viewable format for later analysis on a spreadsheet.

How we built it

I used an HTML template and improved on the design using Claude Sonnet 4.6. Javascript to ensure a sleek design and to handle the functionality behind webpage interaction. I used Sheetsdb to convert the spreadsheet into a JSON API that stores the user's submissions and interpretation of the recording.

Challenges we ran into

This is my first project and it was difficult to implement the ideas with my capabilities. I did not know about Git and GitHub, where I had to spend some time learning how to develop a program with it rather than focusing on the functionality. My initial project scope initially integrated multiple sources, but it was unreasonable to make a dictionary with different schemas when one researcher had collected more than the other. The language preservation and sharing wouldn't feel complete that way.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I am proud that improved my time management skills like being able to attend workshops and working on my project at the same time. I was able to pick up key developer tools I did not even know I could use and know how to manage code and collaborate with others.

What we learned

I learned how to use Git and GitHub into my workflow. I was able to understand what an API is and when to use them in my programs. I learned that in order to solve problems, I needed to find a connection to what is missing or exhausting.

What's next for "Nuumte Oote"

The project could be improved with uploading features rather than embedding the audio into the html, and making a database for them to analyze the audio files more carefully and to have them in abundance. Support for other languages would be beneficial, especially for researchers and locals who communicate in Spanish to be able to get more where we wouldn't be able to do so in English. While Nuumte Oote is for the Ayapaneco language specifically, the framework can help bring more interest to other endangered languages out there. UNESCO's last update on endangered languages was over 10 years ago and relies on publications that verify these are lost voices. Researchers could be motivated to document if they had the tools.

Built With

• css
• googlesheets
• html
• javascript
• sheetsdb.io