SIL has recognised more than 7,000 languages used in the world today — more than 600 in Africa alone. Here in Uganda, SIL serves in eight unique language communities.
Founded in 1934, and active in Uganda since 1993, SIL International is a global leader among academic and professional organisations which offer language development services.
Originally known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics, SIL International has grown from a small training program (with two students) to a staff of over 4,800 from 84 countries. Currently, SIL works alongside speakers of more than 1,700 languages in over 100 countries. The organization makes its services available to all without regard to religious belief, political ideology, gender, race or ethnolinguistic background.
SIL has authored many leading resources, tools, and services which are used today throughout the global community of language development professionals. Examples below are just some of what our teams here in Uganda make use of regularly. You can click each logo image or title to visit its website.
Ethnologue
Visit the most authoritative resource on world languages, trusted by academic and business communities around the world. Ethnologue brings together more data than any other database of its kind, for every known language — populations, maps, dialects, usage, and more. Profiles are cross-linked to highlight connections, and often include qualitative notes about culture, attitudes, religion, and more. Reference broad insight and expert analysis, or download raw data for use with most standard analytical tools. Ethnologue's data and thought leadership libraries are continually updated, with official release of a new edition each year.
Webonary
Language groups can publish their own multi-lingual dictionaries on the web with a minimum of help. SIL's internal Dictionary & Lexicography Services unit uses WordPress code to make the process easy and accessible for teams to create robust, unique websites that communities can use on computers and mobile devices. Webonary's most distinctive characteristic is its relevance-ranked search feature, which can also be filtered by language, part of speech, or semantic domain. Click the link above to visit the Webonary home page, or these links to see SIL Uganda's online dictionaries for Lubwisi, Lugungu, Lugwere, and Lunyole.
Other pages in this section:
About SIL in Uganda
Endorsed by Ugandans
SIL is honoured, as a leader in the global community of language development organisations, by the support of many in Uganda who value its contributions to their people.
News, Updates & Events
While reporting on every activity by every SIL team in every community across Uganda is not possible, we regularly publish articles which represent their work and progress.