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Inuvialuktun made easy New language tool developed
for Apple electronic products
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, June 20, 2013
INUVIK
If you want to learn to speak Inuvialuktun, there's now an app for that.
Deanna Marie Jacobson of the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre shows off an app on an iPad that can be used to learn the Inuvialuktun language. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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Almost two months ago, a film crew was in Inuvik shooting what was described at the time as a commercial. At that time, spokespeople refused to comment on what they were up to. But the secret is now out.
The Apple corporation was behind the secrecy. It shot part of a nearly 10-minute promotional video with a member of the Inuvik Drummers and Dancers highlighting the language app for Apple-based products.
Deanna Marie Jacobson of the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre sat down to discuss the app on June 14 at her office at the edge of town.
She's the language consultant for the organization, and an enthusiastic advocate for preserving the Inuvialuktun dialects, of which there are three.
"It's exciting to use technology to reinforce language learning. It's awesome," she said. "It's the way to go.
"I work with the language teachers in the Beaufort Delta," she said. "I create resources and language learning tools for them."
"I wouldn't call myself an expert on the languages yet," Jacobson said. "The real experts are the elders."
That expertise from the elders is what the app taps into, she explained. It's a multi-faceted learning tool that she feels will help revitalize the language.
Lillian Elias was selected as the language expert for the app. She's a member of the Inuvik Drummers and Dancers group.
Jacobson said the project started with creating a list of Inuvialuktun words – basically a dictionary – followed by phrases.
She said it was part of a Yellowknife-based project to preserve and document aboriginal languages in the NWT.
The app, which is in its first iteration, allows people to listen to words and phrases in Inuvialuktun and record their pronunciations. It shows how to pronounce vowels and consonants in the language, which has only three vowels.
"So once you've gone through and learned all of that, you can do it over and over until you get the pronunciation," Jacobson said. "We tried to use as many local people in the photos to make it as meaningful as possible. I feel that's what we need to do to help interest."
"There's so much you can do. You get a score for every game played, and you can set it up to send an e-mail to challenge others."
The local flavour basically brings real role models to anyone using the app, Jacobson said, and particularly children.
With practice, the app is capable of teaching more than a basic understanding of the language, she said.
"It's a really excellent language tool, and the response has been awesome," Jacobson said. "We did a presentation on Inuvialuit Day, and they couldn't wait for the app to be released."
It's a free download from the Apple Store. She recommended anyone using the app to update it regularly to maximize the features.
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