Ximena Solorzano, Staff Photographer

For Estelle Balsirow ’26, language is more than a field of study: it’s a reclamation.

Balsirow, a Kalmyk-American linguistics major, is one of the first Yale students to study Kalmyk — an endangered Mongolic language spoken by an ethnic minority in Russia — through Yale’s Directed Independent Language Study program, or DILS. She describes the experience of practicing Kalmyk with her grandmother as “lighting up her face” and recalls hearing the Kalmyk proverb growing up: “If you forget your mother tongue, it’s like forgetting your own mother.”

This spring, Kalmyk joins Māori, Newar (Nepal Bhasa) and Assamese as new additions to Yale’s DILS program, which allows students to pursue languages not formally taught at Yale through structured, one-on-one sessions with native or fluent speakers known as Language Partners. 

The program has become a lifeline for students looking to reconnect with their heritage, preserve endangered tongues and engage in scholarship that would otherwise be impossible without linguistic access. 

Despite federal funding cuts to many language programs across the country, DILS remains intact and growing at Yale, with plans to add Hmong to its slate in Fall 2025.

“Students in the DILS program work with a highly qualified language partner to advance their proficiency in a Less Commonly Taught Language in support of their academic work,” said Adam Stein, program manager at Yale’s Center for Language Study. “Many of the students are also studying an endangered language and have become part of a broader global community working towards the preservation of disappearing languages and their respective cultures.”

For Te Maia Wiki ’28, who is Ngāti Porou and Te Aupōuri from Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Yurok from Northern California, DILS has offered a rare opportunity to reconnect with reo Māori, the language of her father’s family.

“Both of my paternal grandparents were reo Māori teachers,” she said. “Speaking Māori is a significant part of how my family communicates. There are so many Māori beliefs and protocols that don’t translate easily into English. DILS gave me a formal structure to practice the language — but more importantly, it gave me space to tap into Te Ao Māori, the Māori worldview.”

Wiki worked with Amelia Butler, a Māori educator, to prepare for a Māori-led environmental conference in New Zealand. Their sessions began and ended with karakia, a type of prayer, and incorporated not only environmental vocabulary but also dialectal phrases from her grandmother’s region.

Despite its cultural and academic value, however, DILS does not count for Yale course credit — a fact that Wiki and other Indigenous students have called into question. 

Wiki noted that the DILS does not fulfill Yale’s language requirements, nor does it appear on a student’s transcript. While some students receive credit for remote languages, Wiki believes that many students are deterred from studying indigenous, endangered languages due to the lack of credit received.

“It’s ironic for Yale to create spaces to learn ‘rare’ native languages, and take pride in that, but not recognize this learning as legitimate,” Wiki said. “How does this perpetuate harmful ideas about what languages and cultures are allowed in academic institutions?”

Kalmyk, a Mongolic language with roots in Central Asia, is also a new addition. Balsirow, a linguistics major, joined DILS in the fall to deepen her connection to her Kalmyk heritage. Raised speaking Russian in Kalmyk diaspora communities, she remembers childhood phrases in Kalmyk — but never had a chance to study the language formally until now.

Balsirow added that DILS is helping them learn not just about vocabulary or grammatical structure, but also about her own cultural identity.

“My language partner, Chagdyr, is a certified Kalmyk philologist and incredibly knowledgeable about culture and tradition,” Balsirow said. “We go beyond grammar and syntax — I’m able to learn about Buddhist teachings, Mongol history, and sayings my mom used when I was little. It’s helping me make sense of things I’ve heard my whole life.”

Her language partner, Chagdyr Sandzhiev, a Kalmyk philologist, sees the partnership as part of a much larger mission.

“Kalmyk carries the ancient history of the Mongol nomads … and embodies Buddhist teachings,” he said. “The importance of this program lies not only in acquiring language skills but also in immersing students in the culture, traditions, and worldview embedded in the language.”

For Rijan Maharjan GRD ’18, the Newar language is an emotional touchstone. After first joining DILS as a student a decade ago, he returned in 2024 as a language partner when he learned students were interested in learning and preserving his native tongue.

“Young people, including some of my cousins, are speaking less and less Newar,” he said. “It saddens me to see such an integral part of our culture receding. So when [Adam Stein] contacted me saying students were interested in Newar, I said yes. The more speakers, the better.”

Maharjan called DILS “an amazing program that few schools offer” and said its impact stretches far beyond Yale’s campus. “These endangered languages hold the key to unique cultures, traditions, and knowledge in the smallest corners of the world,” he said. “Having the ability to tap into that also helps Yale maintain its high standing in research.”

Tim Frandy, a Sámi and Finnish-American scholar currently based at the University of British Columbia, echoed that sentiment. A North Sámi language partner since 2022, Frandy emphasized that Indigenous languages are not just modes of communication but a way of spotlighting knowledge systems often left out of Western academia.

“There are no regular course sequences in any Sámi languages across North America,” Frandy noted. “And yet, these languages carry traditional knowledge and relationalities — not to mention thousands of years of history. You can’t just translate words and expect meaning. Language teaches you how to see the world differently.”

And while the program continues to add new offerings — with more languages under consideration for next fall — students and partners alike hope institutional support will follow.

“We all deserve the opportunity to learn about our own histories and cultures,” Frandy said. “Universities have a responsibility to make that possible.”

The Yale DILS program was founded in 2001.