News

New Phone App Launched for the Ma! Iwaidja Dictionary

Version 1.0 of the Ma! Iwaidja mobile phone app, which runs on both iOS and Android platforms, consists of:

  • a 1,500 entry English-Iwaidja dictionary (with audio),
  • a 450-entry English-Iwaidja phrase book (with audio),
  • a Conjugator with a 'wheel-based' interface (UIPickerView) allowing the user to conjugate verbs, body parts, etc., and
  • an information section containing information about endangered languages in Arnhem Land, an introduction to Iwaidja, and cultural notes.

The app also gives users the capacity to record new dictionary or phrase book entries using the on-board recording capability of their phone, allowing each user to 'customize' their app by including, for instance, new phrases which are particularly useful in their interactions or their work.

The iOS version of the app can be downloaded from http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/ma-iwaidja/id557824618?mt=8 and an Android version will be available in October 2012.

Version 1.1, to be launched in May 2013, will essentially turn the app into a highly innovative, user-friendly language documentation tool. Users will be able to upload new entries to a web server, to be 'moderated' (i.e., checked for appropriateness and accuracy), adjusted where necessary, perhaps re-recorded where the sound quality is poor, and made available for download to all users of the app when they next connect to the internet.

Bruce Birch, 2012, Used by permission  

Ethiopian Ministry of Education and SIL Ethiopia sign cooperative agreement

(September 2011) A new Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 23 August by State Minister of Education Fuad Ibrahim Omer, on behalf of the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and Dr. Alemayehu Hailu, Director of SIL Ethiopia. This agreement formalizes the commitment to continued partnership between the Government of Ethiopia and SIL Ethiopia.

International Literacy Day: Dictionaries in Vanuatu and literacy materials in the Solomon Islands

(September 2010) In recognition of UNESCO-designated International Literacy Day, 8 September, SIL participated in celebrations in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

SIL Vanuatu and the University of the South Pacific (USP) held a dictionary-making workshop on 9 September at the USP Port Vila campus. Led by SIL Director Ross Webb, 17 participants learned to use the WeSay computer program.

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