The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a nation made up of many islands in the Pacific Ocean. It makes up part of Micronesia, a larger island group made up of many different nations. The United States (US) provides subsidies, defense, and more to the islands, making it a nation in free association with the U.S.

According to the 2010 census, there was 22,434 people of Marshallese origin living in the United States at that time, however that number has likely grown significantly. A recent estimate puts the number at closer to 30,000 in 2018.

There are two main dialects [Rlik (western) and Ratak (eastern)] of the Marshallese language, along with two different orthographies and this is an important language worldwide.

There has been a Marshallese community in the City of Dubuque, Iowa (https://www.cityofdubuque.org) since 1992 and language continues to be a barrier still today. There is a large number of students receiving English Language Learner (ELL) in the Dubuque Community School District (https://www.dbqschools.org/) and the number of students needing ELL services is not diminishing for students of Marshallese origin.

There are really no services available locally and nationally that can provide an easy to use, generally available solution to help bridge this language barrier gap like Microsoft Translator. Therefore, please consider allocating the necessary resources to incorporate the Marshallese language in the Microsoft Translator service and App.

The addition of the Marshallese language in the Microsoft Translator service and App would be extremely beneficial to the students and families of the City of Dubuque and the Marshallese community at large throughout the United States.

If anyone on the Microsoft Translator team need additional information or is looking for a partner to make this happen, please feel free to reach out as we are happy to assist anyway, we can.

Thank you for your consideration.

To Learn More:
‘They Did Not Realize We Are Human Beings’
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/26/marshall-islands-iowa-medicaid-103940

Irradiated, Cheated and Now Infected: America’s Marshall Islanders Confront a Covid-19 Disaster
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/17/americas-marshall-islanders-confront-covid-19-disaster-447158

Dubuque Marshallese Health Fund
https://www.dbqfoundation.org/donors/giving-center/dubuque-marshallese-health-fund

Dubuque Pacific Islander Health Project
https://crescentchc.org/who-we-serve/dubuque-pacific-islander-health-project.html

Dubuque Senior High School Marshallese Student Group
https://www.mfcdbq.org/programs/educational-empowerment-programs/senior-high-school-marshallese-student-group

Dubuque student clubs designed to help Marshallese students forge community connections
https://www.telegraphherald.com/news/tri-state/article_3e3ed1b3-9e9e-52f3-8e62-085d6c4b8ebf.html

There are more than 7.6 million (2011 census) Santali Native speakers across India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Santali community are one of those indigenous community of south Asia who are continuously endeavouring to preserve their language and culture. The new generations of this community is very much eager to see its language in digital/on line platform. We felt glad that Microsoft is working on coverage of several languages around the world so that more and more people can use and speak through translator. it will be great help to this community if you would provide and add support for Santali Translator. This will enable this language to walk with the time.