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New home movies resurrect endangered Native American languageEducator develops multimedia tools to share, preserve Ojibwe language.
By Science NationMon
With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Hermes is combining the skills of native speakers with video technology to help others, young and old, learn the language in the most natural way. She's doing it by videotaping short movies of everyday situations, from going to a rummage sale to planting a garden to helping out a sick relative.
"Because Ojibwe isn't spoken on a regular basis, there's not a store or a rummage sale or a resort, but part of what we're doing is trying to re-envision what that would be like," explains Hermes.
"So imagine if Ojibwe was the language of commerce, the language of everywhere you went; everything you did was in Ojibwe," she says.
"What we are hoping is that you hear it in an everyday way, [with phrases like] 'tie your shoes,' 'get up,' 'hey mom what's for breakfast,'—that kind of informal speaking ... that's not necessarily correct formal grammar, but the way you would speak it," she says.
Once those short movies are transcribed by native speakers, they are combined with vocabulary lists, pronunciations, and interactive games to create educational DVDs.
Supporting Sooners and Cowboys with SyllabaryAs reported this summer, Oklahoma State leads the nation in the number of Native Americans receiving bachelor’s degrees, and the University of Oklahoma comes in third—so it is perhaps a simple matter of supply and demand that has given rise to university-branded apparel featuring Cherokee syllabary, now available at CherokeeGiftShop.com. “Cherokee people have had a passion for sports for hundreds of years and these new products allow us to showcase our tribal heritage and culture while supporting the schools we love,’” said Molly Jarvis, vice president of cultural tourism at Cherokee Nation Entertainment, in a statement.
Syllabary caps and T-shirts are also available for Northeastern State University, the school that graduates the second-most American Indians in the country.
There’s an (Inuktitut) App for ThatCanada’s first Inuktitut app has been launched. The Canada Council for the Arts is giving out information on how to apply for grants with an app for iPads, iPhones, the iPod touch and Androids in the language of the Inuit. The goal is to attract musicians, artists and writers of the far north to the programs.And:
The app was developed by FaveQuest Corporation, which builds websites and mobile apps for events such as festivals and conventions, according to its own website.
“We’ve built many mobile apps, but never before have we had the opportunity to design and build something with content in Inuktitut. It’s a beautiful looking language, and it was a thrill to bring the first-ever mobile app containing Inuktitut to the Apple iTunes store and the Android Market,” FaveQuest Co-founder Bill Love said in a statement. “FaveQuest is proud that we are part of this first-ever, and we hope these apps will help the Canada Council for the Arts communicate with the Canadian artistic community.”
There’s an (Inuktitut) App for ThatCanada’s first Inuktitut app has been launched. The Canada Council for the Arts is giving out information on how to apply for grants with an app for iPads, iPhones, the iPod touch and Androids in the language of the Inuit. The goal is to attract musicians, artists and writers of the far north to the programs.And:
The app was developed by FaveQuest Corporation, which builds websites and mobile apps for events such as festivals and conventions, according to its own website.
“We’ve built many mobile apps, but never before have we had the opportunity to design and build something with content in Inuktitut. It’s a beautiful looking language, and it was a thrill to bring the first-ever mobile app containing Inuktitut to the Apple iTunes store and the Android Market,” FaveQuest Co-founder Bill Love said in a statement. “FaveQuest is proud that we are part of this first-ever, and we hope these apps will help the Canada Council for the Arts communicate with the Canadian artistic community.”
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