XOBDO: World's first and only North East Regional Languages - English Online Dictionary

XOBDO'S vision to demolish language barrier and thereby fuel mutual understanding and cooperation among the people of the entire North-East India and to bring the languages of the region to the fore-front of the IT age.

The online dictionary, born on 10th March 2006, is the brainchild of Bikram M Baruah, a petroleum engineer by profession now based in Abu Dhabi.

Also the co-ordinator, Barua and his team is looking for more volunteers on NE languages like Khasi ,Dimasa,Bodo, Karbi, Nagamese, Garo, Ao, Mizo (Lushai) ,Mishing, Tanii (Apatani) ,Monpa, Tai, Meitei-lon, Bishnupriya, Chakma, Kok-Borok, Kuki etc.

"Anybody can become member and contribute words to the dictionary. They can also challenge the spellings or meanings entered through discussions with other members, a consensus decision is taken within a reasonable time frame and the entry is updated accordingly", Buljit Buragohain, an IITian and also the Publicity secretary informed.

The online dictionary seeks to document the languages as they are used today in their original forms, considering the present-day meaning to be the standard as it is evidenced in 'contemporary use'.There is no attempt to enforce or express XOBDO's own viewpoint about any spelling or semantics being right or wrong, he added.

Already, there are about 17,084 Assamese words and 10,575 English words, besides a number of words in various NE regional languages, which is updated on a daily basis.

(DD News,http://www.ddinews.gov.in/Social/XOBDO.htm)