S5E10 Language is About People - A Conversation with Paul Frank

“People don’t want to abandon who they are in order to have a better future. Language gives them options—and dignity—to be both rooted and reaching.”

– Paul Frank

In this powerful episode, Norah Jones is joined by Paul Frank, Associate Director for Language Solutions at SIL International. With more than four decades of experience in the field, Paul shares his journey from rural Mexico to the mountains of Colombia to international leadership roles supporting minority language communities.

His message is rooted in lived experience: language is not just about communication—it’s about connection, identity, and opportunity.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Paul’s early experiences in Tzeltal-speaking communities shaped his career
• Insights from his linguistic and community development work in Colombia
• The founding of SIL LEAD and the global impact of the Bloom book creation software
• Why multilingualism is the global norm—and why honoring it matters in education and policy
• What it means to support language choice, not language loss

Paul has worked in over a dozen countries, trained educators and linguists around the world, and helped launch a platform—Bloom—that now supports book creation in nearly 1,000 languages.

Contact Norah :
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