Several members of two tribal communities from West Bengal will spend most the next week in Kolkata to participate in events that are being held with the aim of saving their languages from extinction.
The six-day event, starting on Monday (November 17, 2025), which includes a translation workshop, is part of a University of Calcutta-led project on endangered languages, particularly Lodha and Toto, the only ones in the State to have received Central funding recently.
The perils of translation
“A translation workshop on endangered languages is a rare event in India. About 40 people from both the Lodha and Toto communities will be here for the event. The Government of India and UNESCO have placed special emphasis on their languages. This is part of our community partnership-based research, sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), and the ICSSR-Eastern Regional Centre,” event convenor Mrinmoy Pramanick, founder-coordinator of the university’s Centre for Translation and Literary Geography, said.
“There will also be nearly 50 people representing the Bengali language, and that’s because there are some texts that are written by the Lodha and Toto people, but in the Bengali script. We will be discussing the translation of their texts into English. Besides, there will be performances, such as a Lodha performance of their indigenous theatre form, and also an exhibition,” Prof. Pramanick said.
