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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Want to learn to speak and read a Dene language? There's a home-grown app for that.

Margaret Erasmus, aboriginal language and culture co-ordinator for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, uses an iPad to show the Tlicho version of the new Dene language application to Randy Baillargeon, left. - Galit Rodan/NNSL photo

In an inventive marriage of tradition and technology, the first Dene languages applications for touch-screen technology platforms like the iPad and iPhone will be available for free download from iTunes in late April.

"It's imperative that we all work together ... to save our language for future generations," said Education, Culture and Employment Minister Jackson Lafferty at the product launch Wednesday afternoon. March is Aboriginal Languages Month in the Northwest Territories.

Aboriginal languages are in decline in the NWT due to a tremendous decrease in intergenerational transmission within the past few decades, according to a GNWT statement released at the launch. Additionally, because most aboriginal languages are orally transmitted, there is a lack of resources for teachers.

The new product is aimed principally at youth but can appeal to anyone, including families and educators, said Jacqueline McKinnon, manager of public affairs for the department.

Currently, there is no formal plan to introduce the technology into school curricula, said McKinnon, but Early Childhood and School Services has been developing a Dene language curriculum teacher implementation guide to assist teachers with Dene language instruction following the Dene Kede curriculum.

The first five languages available in the applications are Tlicho, North Slavey, South Slavey, Gwich'in and Chipewyan, although Lafferty said the goal is to release applications for all nine aboriginal languages spoken in the NWT. The next language apps to be developed will be in Cree, Inuvialuktun and Inuinnaqtun.

Dene language specialists in the NWT developed the apps, working on content, translation and recordings.

Each language app contains about 500 words and phrases, everything from "caribou" to "comb your hair" and contain features that help users learn vocabulary, pronunciation and reading.

Users can browse through a list of English words and click to hear them said aloud in the given aboriginal language. Or they can choose from a number of categories, such as food, family, weather and commands.

There are also quizzes and games available at three levels - easy, medium and hard. Users can also record their own voices and compare their pronunciation with the one programmed.

The applications are the initiative of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the Yamozha Kue Society, also known as the Dene Cultural Institute, which partnered in early 2011 to develop the technology.

The Yamozha Kue Society gathered other partners together, including the Tlicho Community Services Agency, the Goyatiko Language Society, the Gwich'in Teaching and Learning Centre, the Dehcho Divisional Education Council Teaching and Learning Centre, the Sahtu Divisional Education Council Teaching and Learning Centre and Paul William Kaeser High School in Hay River.

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