SIL International

SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages, and aid minority language development.

The organization was founded by Presbyterian minister William Cameron Townsend, an American missionary to Guatemala where he worked among the Kaqchikel Maya people. In 1933 Townsend turned to Mexico with the purpose of translating the Bible into indigenous languages there, as he had done for Kaqchikel. Townsend established a working relation with the Mexican ministry of education under the progressive government of Lázaro Cárdenas and founded SIL to educate linguist-missionaries to work in Mexico. Through the following decades the SIL linguists worked with providing literacy education to indigenous people of Mexico, while simultaneously working with the SIL's sister organization the Wycliffe Bible Translators, also founded by Townsend to translate the Bible into the languages where they were working. SIL gradually extended its work to other regions of the world where indigenous languages were spoken, including Papua New Guinea, Southeast Asia and Africa. While initially SIL's staff only received basic training in linguistics and anthropology, gradually the organization came to be professionalized and today many have advanced degrees.

SIL has more than 6,000 members from over 50 countries. Based on their language documentation work, SIL publishes a database, Ethnologue, of its research into the world's languages. SIL also develops and publishes software programs for language documentation, such as FieldWorks Language Explorer (FLEx) and Lexique Pro. SIL also holds formal consultative status with the United Nations, has been recognized by UNESCO for their contributions in Asia, and is a member of the Forum of Bible Agencies International.