Few Translators fluent in Dialect
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Nov 27/00) - Margo Kadlun-Jones didn't choose her career so much as her career chose her.
One of Nunavut's few Innuinaqtun interpreter-translators, Kadlun-Jones said the call when she was in high school and teachers needed to send information home to unilingual parents.
"I was in high school in Cambridge Bay and the principal wanted to send home some notices and report cards (in Innuinaqtun)," said Kadlun-Jones.
Innuinaqtun is the dialect of Inuktitut spoken in the western Kitikmeot communities of Kugluktuk, Kingaok (Bathurst Inlet), Cambridge Bay and Umingmaktuuq (Bay Chimo).
Over the next few years, Kadlun-Jones held several jobs in different areas, but all relied on her ability to write and speak Innuinaqtun.
She decided to run her own business and found there was more than enough work for her and the handful of other interpreter-translators.
The problem was that fluency with the dialect had dwindled to the point where it was difficult to find skilled employees.
"With anything to do with the Innuinaqtun language, there is always a shortage," said Kadlun-Jones.
"I don't know if it's whether people are not interested, but it's been like that for about the last ten to 15 years."
English becoming first language
English has become the first language of people in the western Kitikmeot, a fact that distresses her personally and professionally.
"It doesn't make me feel good when I see that apathy. I've been trying to keep the interest up, the reading and writing and speaking of Innuinaqtun alive, but it's difficult," she said.
She said Innuinaqtun courses are necessary to boost the number of fluent people and to generate interest in working with the dialect. The problem is finding someone with the time or skill to run the courses.
"Whoever is capable, people like myself, we're all busy with full-time jobs," she said.
"I don't know how to fix the situation...the government should put effort into nailing down the problem instead of two week solutions here and there."
Training is available
Susan Sammons, senior instructor in the language and culture program at Nunavut Arctic College, said people who speak Innuinaqtun were welcome to enrol in the two-year interpreter-translator course offered in Iqaluit.
The differences in dialects between students were addressed during the course work, she said.
"As you work with (Inuktitut) and get more familiar with it, there are not as many differences in the dialects as you may think," said Sammons.
The root words are the same. Differences are found primarily in the sound of the words. Learning to interpret and translate is as much about skill level as it is about dialect, she said.
Students are given the opportunity to develop words specific to their own dialects in the course work of the second year.
"For example, we have legal modules. In the mornings a lawyer comes in and explains how the courts work and in the afternoons we do terminology development. We encourage them to come up with a term that works in their dialect," said Sammons.
Lack of interest
Sammons said the shortage has more to do with a lack of interest in the Kitikmeot than language barriers or the lack of access to education.
"To be honest, we haven't had too many people from the Kitikmeot apply to the program," said Sammons.
Gwen Ohokak has worked for 15 years as an interpreter-translator in Cambridge Bay. She took a course in Inuktitut and uses the knowledge she gained to work as an occasional Innuinaqtun instructor.
"I learned a lot even though it was geared to Inuktitut," said Ohokak."I'm using what I learned. I'm just editing it for my dialect."
