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Native American linguists have traveled to Central Australia in an effort to save Indigenous languages from extinction.
Learning their native language enables First Nation Australians to rediscover their identity and culture.
Indigenous languages convey knowledge about various facets of society, including astronomy, food, history, and familial relationships, in addition to serving as a medium of communication.
Government programs had attempted to destroy Indigenous languages up until the 1970s.
According to a recent census, Australia has 167 First Nation languages spoken, but more than 100 of them are endangered.
The Pertame Southern Arrernte language, which was developed close to the city of Alice Springs in Central Australia, is only spoken by about 20 individuals.
To share their expertise with reviving traditional expression, North American professionals have journeyed to the Australian desert.
Julian Lang, who comes from northwestern California, has witnessed the development of his native Karuk language through the immersion teaching approach known as “language hunting,” wherein an elder imparts knowledge to a student or apprentice over the course of three years.
The approach has worked well, according to Lang, who spoke to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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“One person teaches another person and that person becomes a seed for so many more,” said Lang.
Lang added, “The apprentice, well, learns how to elicit more knowledge from the elder. We call it language hunting. So, they seek out more and more language and as you get to a certain level you finally get to that point where you are conversing relatively easy.”
Around 30 years ago, the so-called North American master-apprentice program was created.
Books and curricula are not available. Rather, language and comprehension are gradually developed while education is based on daily activities.
According to Lang, the procedure takes 900 hours over a three-year period.
The International Decade of Indigenous Languages has been proclaimed by the United Nations for the ensuing ten years.
Australia made history in 2019 when a lawmaker from the Northern Territory addressed Parliament in an Aboriginal language for the first time while using an interpreter.
For years, there has been a battle over the usage of Indigenous languages in the chamber. Politicians used to be instructed to speak exclusively English in Parliament and warned that doing otherwise would be “disorderly.”
Source: VOA News
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
