"Within 10 years certainly four of the languages we are currently working on with Wadeye probably won't be there and there are several reasons for that," she said.

"Languages may not be spoken in the home as much because of the lingua franca of the community."

In August last year, the Federal Government acknowledged a report which found 110 Indigenous languages are at risk of disappearing and committed $9.3 million towards saving them.

Ms Klesch said the money has made a slight difference, but does not go anywhere near far enough.

"There is just not enough speakers left to document and record these languages," she said.

"Although there is Commonwealth support for this, it is not really nearly enough to be able to achieve the goals necessary to retrieve these languages and maintain them in a timeframe of those elders staying alive as first language speakers," she said.

Ms Klesch wants bilingual programs to continue in Northern Territory schools as a way of ensuring the preservation of languages and Indigenous culture.

"You only have to look at those languages that are already extinct, and those languages that people are trying to retrieve to find out that without the language you just don't have the cultural knowledge.

"You don't have the scientific knowledge of medicine, the weather, how to manage the environment, all of that is lost in translation.

The outgoing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma put the preservation of Indigenous high on his list of issues of concern in his last address in January.