Languages by Country
There is little information available on the languages crisis-affected people speak and understand. Humanitarians often develop communication strategies without reliable data on literacy, languages spoken, or preferred means of communication. The result too often is that crisis-affected people struggle to communicate with humanitarian organizations in a language they understand. Women, children, older people, and people with disabilities are often at the greatest disadvantage because they are less likely to understand international languages and lingua francas.
TWB’s Language Data Initiative addresses those issues and provides important resources for humanitarians. It supports humanitarian organizations to develop language-informed programs and communication strategies.
Available Tools:
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DTM Field Companions for Languages: in excel: https://dtm.iom.int/dtm-partners-toolkit/field-companion-excel
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DTM Field Companions for Languages: in pdf: https://dtm.iom.int/dtm-partners-toolkit/field-companion-pdf
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Video Data for Languages and Languages for Data: https://youtu.be/QDGW8GReh_M
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Practical information on the various languages used in each country: https://translatorswithoutborders.org/language-data-by-country/
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Recommended questions on languages developed by TWB with IOM DTM, REACH and UNICEF using three main methods of data collection (Interviews with Key Informants, Household, Individuals): https://clearglobal.org/language-questions/
