About SIL
SIL's Mission
Inspired by God’s love, we advocate, build capacity, and work with local communities to apply language expertise that advances meaningful development, education, and engagement with Scripture.
Since its creation in 1934 from a small linguistic training program, SIL has expanded to become an organization with over 4,300 members from more than 89 countries.
SIL has conducted linguistic analyses of more than 2,590 languages spoken by 1.7 billion people in 100 countries.
SIL created and manages Progress Bible, which is a reliable and authoritative source of information on the status of Bible translation, including: the current work being done, remaining needs, and completed Scriptures.
As a leader in linguistic research, SIL has significantly contributed to the Ethnologue, a reference volume that catalogs all the living and known languages of the world.
SIL has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and maintains formal relations with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
SIL Global's Language Technology Department offers a wide range of tools designed to support every aspect of language development and Bible translation. Our mission is to empower communities to thrive in their languages and cultures, especially in today’s digital age.
For many minority languages, digital communication is challenging. Some languages lack mobile phone keyboards that accommodate their unique characters, while others exist only in oral form and have not yet developed a written alphabet. Our tools are designed to address these needs, helping communities to create orthographies, build dictionaries, and develop and publish stories in both digital and print formats. We also provide specialized tools to support Bible translation and publishing in audio and print.
Explore our full range of resources at software.sil.org.