People & culture

Cia-Cia is spoken mainly in the southern part of Buton Island in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, in and around the city of Baubau. Most speakers also speak Indonesian, the national language. Cia-Cia belongs to the Austronesian language family, and its speakers have long passed down their stories, songs and knowledge by word of mouth.

Writing Cia-Cia in Hangul

In 2009, schools in Baubau began teaching children to write Cia-Cia using Hangul, the Korean alphabet, adapted to the sounds of the language. Teachers in Baubau, together with Korean educators, have continued this work, and children today read and write their own language in Hangul in the classroom. One of the aims of this archive is to give them more to read.