Project ShoiUku
Chak language preservation

Keeping Chak alive

Project ShoiUku documents, digitises and promotes the Chak language, spoken by about 4,000 people in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Part of the Project Korikath family.

Listen to Chak Help build the keyboard
A Chak woman in traditional attire, Naikkhangchori
Photo: Wasiul Bahar, CC BY-SA 4.0

What we have recorded so far

~200min
Audio recorded
~1,000
Words recorded
~20min
Video recorded
5
Native speakers
10
Field team members
3
Consultants

Recordings and photos are openly licensed on Wikimedia Commons.

ShoiUku · the golden clay pot

A treasure kept safe

During times of war, Chak families stored their most valuable belongings in golden clay pots and buried them underground. When the conflict passed, they dug the pots up and reclaimed their treasures.

That act of preservation through struggle is the heart of this project. The Chak language is the treasure, and recordings, a script and digital tools are the pot that keeps it safe for future generations.

  • A clay pot

    The logo's form is the ShoiUku, a sacred object in Chak culture.

  • A musical note

    Language is music: the rhythm and melody of speech passed from generation to generation.

  • S and U

    Look closely and the letters of ShoiUku are drawn into the mark.

A Chak woman in traditional attire in Naikkhangchori
Naikkhangchori, Bandarban. Photo: Wasiul Bahar, CC BY-SA 4.0
The language

One of Bangladesh's most endangered languages

~3,000
speakers in Bangladesh
~1,000
speakers in Myanmar

Chak is spoken mainly within the community. School and work happen in Bengali and English, so many young Chak people see little reason to learn it, and few elders still know it well.

When we started, we were told Chak had no written script. Our fieldwork showed otherwise.

In the news

Featured by Nutshell Today

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Nutshell Today · Reel

Saving the Chak language

A short film about the project and the community behind it.

Watch on Facebook
Project ShoiUku banners at the recording venue Nutshell Today · Article

From a Golden Pot to the Global Stage

Wasiul Bahar on recording Chak in Bandarban and taking the project to a language conference in Accra, Ghana.

Wasiul Bahar · 22 Oct 2026 Read the article
Our journey

The plan changed when we listened

We set out to record words. The community showed us that Chak needed something more basic first: a way to type.

  1. The first plan

    Record and romanise

    Record Chak words from native speakers, write them in IPA or a romanised form, and publish them on Wiktionary and Wikidata. Use them to build a speech-to-text model and a translation corpus.

  2. Fieldwork

    Naikkhangchori, Bandarban

    Our field team recorded words, phrases and numerals with native speakers: about 200 minutes of audio and 20 minutes of video.

  3. Discovery

    Chak has a script

    A script created around 2016 is already in use. We added it to the plan, and with it, Chak OCR became a realistic goal.

  4. Blocker

    Not in Unicode yet

    Without Unicode there is no standard keyboard for phones or computers. Experts told us encoding the script may take several years.

  5. Now

    An interim keyboard

    We are looking for programmers to build a keyboard in the Unicode Private Use Area, so the community can start typing Chak now.

  6. Next

    Training the community

    Help Chak speakers install and use the keyboard on their own devices.

In the field

Fieldwork in the Bandarban hills

Team Korikath walked the hills and fields around Naikkhangchori to meet Chak families and record their language where it is spoken.

Team Korikath in Naikkhangchori
Team Korikath in NaikkhangchoriCC BY-SA 4.0
Crossing the fields to the village
Crossing the fields to the villageCC BY-SA 4.0
On the hill paths
On the hill pathsCC BY-SA 4.0
Filming an interview outdoors
Filming an interview outdoorsCC BY-SA 4.0
Naikkhangchori from above
Naikkhangchori from aboveCC BY-SA 4.0
Recording words with a native speaker
Recording words with a native speakerCC BY-SA 4.0
Walking through the paddy fields
Walking through the paddy fieldsCC BY-SA 4.0
Checking recordings on the laptop
Checking recordings on the laptopCC BY-SA 4.0
The team, seen from above
The team, seen from aboveCC BY-SA 4.0
Sharing a meal after the sessions
Sharing a meal after the sessionsCC BY-SA 4.0

Photos: Wasiul Bahar, CC BY-SA 4.0. More in the Commons category.

What we are building

Roadmap

Chak keyboard

Seeking help

An interim keyboard in the Unicode Private Use Area for phones and computers. We need pro bono programmers.

Unicode encoding

Blocked

Getting the Chak script into Unicode, with experts who help language communities. The process can take years.

Keyboard training

Planned

Help the community install and use the keyboard on their devices.

Wiktionary and Wikidata

Planned

Publish recorded Chak words as open dictionary and lexeme entries.

Chak OCR and AI

Planned

Read printed Chak script into text, then build speech-to-text and a parallel corpus for translation.

Open recordings

Done

Fieldwork audio, a Swadesh list, an elicitation list and photos are on Wikimedia Commons.

Status as of November 2026.

Listen and explore

Hear Chak spoken

Recordings from our fieldwork with native speakers, shared on Wikimedia Commons.

Discussion on verbs
Team and speakers in conversation · 35:42
GrammarSource on Commons
Browse all 474 recordings All audio on Commons
A Chak woman with a bamboo basket
A Chak woman in a traditional shawl
Two Chak women in traditional dress

Chak women in traditional dress, Naikkhangchori. Photos: Wasiul Bahar, CC BY-SA 4.0, on Wikimedia Commons.

The people

Team and partners

Ten field team members, five native speakers and three consultants.

Project lead

Wasiul Bahar

Open knowledge advocate who has also recorded Garo, Marma and Chakma.

Chak community

Mong Hai Thoway Chak

Team member whose family opened the door to the community and its language.

Brand identity

Ahnaf Tahmid Manan

Designed the ShoiUku logo and brand guideline.

Native speakers

Five Chak speakers

Chak speakers who recorded words, phrases and numerals with us.

Consultants

Three specialists

Specialists who advise on linguistics, technology and AI.

Field team

Ten members

The people who carried out the fieldwork in Naikkhangchori.

With support from

Questions

About Chak and the project

What is the Chak language?

Chak, also called Sak (ISO 639-3 code: ckh), is the language of the Chak people. About 3,000 people speak it in Bangladesh and about 1,000 in Myanmar, which makes it one of the most endangered languages in Bangladesh.

Where is Chak spoken?

In Bangladesh, Chak is spoken in the Bandarban hill district, including Naikkhangchori, where Project ShoiUku did its fieldwork. It is also spoken in Myanmar.

Why is the Chak language endangered?

Chak is used mainly within the community. School and work happen in Bengali and English, so many young Chak people see little reason to learn it, and few elders still know it well.

Does Chak have a writing system?

Yes. A Chak linguist developed a Chak script around 2016. It is widely used in Myanmar and in some government-run Chak language classes in Bangladesh. The script is not yet in Unicode, so there is no standard Chak keyboard for phones or computers.

What does ShoiUku mean?

ShoiUku is the Chak name for the golden clay pot. In times of war, Chak families buried their most valuable belongings in these pots and dug them up when peace returned. The project sees the Chak language as that kind of treasure.

What has Project ShoiUku recorded so far?

About 200 minutes of audio, about 1,000 words and about 20 minutes of video, recorded with five native speakers. 474 recordings are published on Wikimedia Commons: 11 long sessions, a 140-recording Swadesh list and a 323-recording elicitation list.

Can I use the Chak recordings and photos?

Yes. The recordings and photos are by Wasiul Bahar and are published on Wikimedia Commons under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, so anyone can use them with credit, sharing adaptations under the same licence.

Who runs Project ShoiUku?

Project ShoiUku is part of the Project Korikath family and is led by Wasiul Bahar with Team Korikath: ten field team members, five native Chak speakers and three consultants. It is supported by Wikitongues and the Endangered Language Fund.

How can I help the Chak language?

The project needs pro bono programmers to build a Chak keyboard in the Unicode Private Use Area, linguists and script experts to help bring the Chak script into Unicode, Wikimedians to add Chak words to Wikidata and Wiktionary, and funders. Contact shoiuku@korikath.org.

Get involved

Help Chak reach every screen

Linguists and script experts

Help prepare the Chak script for Unicode.

Wikimedians

Add Chak words to Wikidata and Wiktionary, or improve our Commons files.

Funders

Support fieldwork, training and the technical work behind the keyboard.

Contact

Email shoiuku@korikath.org