Context
NepalBhasa is a community-led language platform built to preserve and promote Nepalbhasa (Newar) through practical digital tools. The product serves learners, researchers, and community members who need searchable and accessible language resources. The goal was to make language documentation usable in daily learning, not just archival.
I collaborated with Dabuli, a US-based nonprofit focused on strengthening Nepal’s cultural heritage through research, performance, and advocacy.
My Role
I contributed to both the web and mobile experiences with a focus on turning language resources into simple user workflows.
My contributions included:
- shipping dictionary and browsing experiences for Nepalbhasa learners
- supporting content presentation for word meaning, origin, and pronunciation
- helping structure feature delivery across web and React Native surfaces
- supporting content-driven modules such as proverbs, names, and quiz features
NepalBhasa Web App
Nepalbhasa.org is an online platform and community-led initiative established by Dabuli with the primary objective of preserving and promoting Nepalbhasa, also known as the Newar language. Through this platform, Nepalbhasa.org aims to provide tools, documentation, and educational materials that contribute to the revitalization and continued appreciation of the rich cultural heritage embodied within the Newar language. By fostering community engagement and support, Nepalbhasa.org endeavors to create a sustainable ecosystem for the preservation and promotion of Nepalbhasa, thereby ensuring its enduring legacy for future generations.
Currently the site contains online dictionary with close to 30K words with their meaning, word origin, audio pronunciations, and images. It also contains proverbs, baby names and quiz. These have been collected from various Nepalbhasa Dictionaries published by individuals and institutions. We plan to induct many other various tools in future.
NepalBhasa Mobile App
Technical Challenges
- keeping language data browsable across multiple scripts and learning contexts
- structuring varied content types (dictionary, audio, images, quiz, proverbs) in a coherent experience
- balancing a community-driven content model with product consistency
- supporting web and mobile parity without fragmenting feature behavior
Stack
- JavaScript
- React
- React Native
- content and media-driven web workflows
- nonprofit/community collaboration model
Outcomes
- Supported a platform that now includes a dictionary corpus of approximately 30K words
- Enabled richer learning workflows using audio, images, names, proverbs, and quiz content
- Helped digitize and operationalize language resources that were traditionally hard to access
- Contributed to a sustainable community initiative centered on language preservation
Extra Feature Details
- bilingual lookup support for NepalBhasa, English, and Nepali contexts
- dictionary entries include meaning, origin, pronunciation, and image support
- additional learning modules include proverbs, baby names, and quiz experiences
- specialized utilities include Nepal Lipi converter and Nepal Sambat date tools
What This Proves
This project demonstrates my ability to build culturally meaningful software where product quality and social impact both matter. It also shows I can translate domain-heavy content into practical web and mobile user experiences.
Learn More
For more details, visit the nepalbhasa.org.