Web technology helps preserve, promote languages

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People around the world working to preserve and promote Indigenous languages now have a new tool at their disposal, thanks to the launch of First Voices Aboriginal Languages Resource.

First Voices is a project of the First Peoples' Heritage, Language and Culture Council (FPHLCC), a British Columbia-based Aboriginal organization that has been working to support language training and preservation programs for more than a decade.

Pauline Terbasket is a member of the council and is part of the First Voices development team. Terbasket, an Okanagan member of the Lower Similkameen Indian band, is also involved in preservation and promotion of Indigenous languages at the community level, working as a member of the Okanagan Indian Educational Resource Centre to help preserve and enhance Okanagan language and culture.

"First Voices is an Internet-based technology tool that uses the Web browser to enable Aboriginal language speakers to archive the text and sound and pictures and video, all the wonderful things we can do with technology today, only applying all those to language, to Indigenous languages," Terbasket explained.

"As you know, our languages are going extinct. And we're also losing our speakers, our fluent speakers, our teachers, our Elders, at an accelerated rate it seems. I mean, it's not desperation, but . . . without your language-and this is common, and it's said over and over by our Elders and our teachers-is that without our language, we lose our connection to the land and our culture. So it's critical," she said.

The need for preservation and promotion of Indigenous languages extends far beyond the borders of B.C., or even Canada, Terbasket added, referring to statistics provided by the council that state, "of the world 7,200 existing languages, at least 5,000 are in a critical state of decline, and most are expected to disappear by the end of this century."

"So, we see First Voices as taking the lead in that preservation," she said.

Each Aboriginal community taking part in First Voices will provide an alphabet, dictionary and phrase book on their section of the project Web site. The alphabet will include each character in a written version, as well in a sound file, allowing people using the site to hear how each character is pronounced. The dictionary section will include a word list, with translations and definitions for each word, as well as sound recordings of each word being spoken, and both still pictures and video images depicting the word.

One community that has already uploaded information onto the Web site is Moose Factory, Ont., Terbasket said. The community used some of the tools that it had already been developed for language promotion, and applied those tools to the First Voices project.

"They would show a video of a moose, and then an Elder would speak it, and then it would show in print, all at once. It's amazing. So I guess in regard to the tool, myself, I can learn from work, I can learn from my home. I can work with my community in their language projects to get recordings from our Elders. And they'll always be archived. It's amazing, the potential."

The First Voices Web site had its official launch on Feb. 22, but although the project is now officially on-line, the work on the project is still very much ongoing. Staff are working to address such issues as protection of intellectual property rights for the information that will be on the sites, as well as protection of the information from such things as system crashes and viruses. And so far, only a limited amount of Indigenous language information is available on the site.

In order to give communities access to the information and technology they need to get their language information onto the Web site, a training program is being planned, Terbasket explained.

"We're planning to have a training institute this summer, and get people more exposed and aware of the potential of the technology and how they can apply it to loca based language programs."

Terbasket said the plan is to videotape the training sessions being offered this summer, then edit them into interactive tutorials that would be available on the First Voices Web site, and on CD-ROM.

"So the intent is to pilot the training program and design it to give a hands-on experience in all elements of the First Voices resource. And then these courses will be readily available to all Indigenous language groups across Canada and the world. So we're going global here. It's going to go global," she said. "There are no limits. I just read in the news yesterday in Africa they're losing their Indigenous languages. And this is something that they would be able to access."

The response to the First Voices project has been positive, both in Canada, and south of the border. First Nations communities across British Columbia have indicated interest in hosting the summer training sessions, and the San Diego-based Southern California Tribal Digital Village Project, which uses high-speed Internet access to link its 17 tribal communities, has committed to provide server equipment to the project in exchange for access to the First Voices recording and teaching resources.

One of the keys to the First Voices project, Terbasket explained, is that it is community-based, with each community able to develop their portion of the Web site to meet their specific needs.

"It's infinite in its application, and what can continue to be developed," Terbasket said, adding that the ways communities will choose to use the tool will likely be as unique and distinct as the communities themselves.

"It's there, and it'll always be there. But it's the community that determines how they'll apply it," she said.

"It's not just about preservation. It's about utility. It's about using it. And it's about enhancing what we have," Terbasket said.

"Its value to our language community, the Indigenous language community, is tremendous; and in our desire and our need to enhanc our languages. So the relevance to the community, it's hard to put a value on it. It's infinite."

The First Voices Web site can be found at www.firstvoices.com. For more information about the First Voices Aboriginal Language Project, visit the FPHLCC Web site at http://www.fpcf.ca, or call the council office at 250-361-3456.