An unprecedented effort will see the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver broadcast in a record 22 languages, including such aboriginal tongues as Inuktitut, Mechif, Mi’Kmaq and Mohawk.

The Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium says it has partnered with Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Asian Television Network and Rogers’ OMNI Television to air 421 hours combined of multilingual coverage.

APTN will deliver the Games in a mix of English, French and eight aboriginal languages for a total of 214 hours, followed by ATN with 107 hours, covering South Asian tongues such as Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and Bangla. OMNI will broadcast 100 hours in languages such as Cantonese, Mandarin, Polish and Portuguese.

The opening and closing ceremonies will air in 13 languages.

APTN, ATN and OMNI Television are three of 10 television broadcasters that will carry the Games. Other English-language broadcasters include CTV, Rogers Sportsnet, TSN and OLN, while their French-language counterparts are V (formerly TQS), RDS and RIS.

‘The Consortium has made a significant commitment to delivering inclusive coverage of Vancouver 2010 that embraces the multicultural heritage of this country,’ commented consortium president Keith Pelley in a release.

The Games get underway on Feb. 12.