Preserving Rongring: The Journey to Revitalize the 'Definitely Endangered' Lepcha Language

Following Unesco's designation of the Lepcha language as "definitely endangered," a committed group of community members launched campaigns to preserve their native speech.

Rongring is the language spoken by only 30,000 Lepcha people, according to estimates. The Lepcha people are mostly found in portions of Nepal and Bhutan as well as Darjeeling, Sikkim.

"I decided to find out ways to conserve the language when I learned that Rongring was classified as 'definitely endangered' in 2020," said IT specialist Gideon Tashi Lepcha.

A language that is no longer taught to children as their "mother tongue" at home is considered "definitely endangered."

After conducting a thorough investigation, Gideon discovered that the main obstacles to the language's preservation were the decentralized content in Rongring and the dearth of specialists who were familiar with the language and the technique of transmission. "I discovered that although 90% of Lepcha speakers lived in rural, 90% of them lacked basic literacy skills. That is another reason the language didn't survive through the centuries, according to Gideon.

In 2020, Gideon and three of his friends—language instructor Jongmit Lepcha, language specialist Abel Rongong, and language experts Martha Lepcha and Jongmit Lepcha—developed the "Wangboo Framework" to instruct Rongring in a clear, appealing, and contemporary manner. Wangboo is a Rongring term for skillful.

300 participants from over 12 countries, including Japan, Canada, the Czech Republic, and Italy, enrolled in their international online course in less than a year and a half.

According to Gideon, "those who enrolled in our course were primarily linguists, researchers, Lepcha enthusiasts, and community members."

More than 8,000 individuals joined the team's eight webinars, which covered a wide range of topics including the Lepcha calendar, music, culture, calligraphy, script, and language.

Their campaign had an international effect. "I discovered that learning the language was not at all difficult when I enrolled in the first batch of the online course. Retired physician J.S. Simick said, "I am fairly confident in reading and writing in the Lepcha language thanks to this great online course, which I took from North America and India.

Community members also initiated the Noangten, or weekend language courses, that are meant to spread the Lepcha language among youngsters in Kalimpong's villages.

But when the project grew in size, the young people made the decision to give it to the Rongring Lepcha Culture and Welfare Society (RLCWS). Members of the non-profit organization, which was established in 2021, come from a variety of backgrounds, including former IFS and IAS personnel.

The RLCWS in Kalimpong unveiled the "Rongring" website and mobile application on Saturday.

"There is no doubt that fewer people speak our language now than there was before. The RLCWS president, G. Namchu, said, "We are confident that fresh efforts like the development of the app will play some part in protecting our language. The language is progressively going into usage.

Additionally, the group created QR codes, which will improve pedagogy's accuracy. According to Gideon, "one can simply scan the code to learn various aspects like pronunciation and sentence framing."