The Rotary Club of Stabroek, in collaboration with its technology partner BrainStreet Group and the support of ExxonMobil Guyana, is embarking on the development and implementation of an Indigenous Language Translation Portal Project aimed at supporting the automated translation of Guyana’s eight indigenous languages.
“Indigenous languages are an integral part of Indigenous culture; therefore, this portal can be used as one of the primary methods in which generational culture can be passed on,” President of the Rotary Club of Stabroek Grace McCalman said in a statement from the Rotary Club of Stabroek on the launch of the project.
The indigenous languages in Guyana, like many other indigenous languages globally, are under threat. It is becoming challenging to find people with the ability to both read and write in all the languages that have been identified.
“Preserving culture is an important aspect of any society and we are proud to be part of such a
significant undertaking with the Rotary Club of Stabroek and BrainStreet,” the statement quoted ExxonMobil Guyana’s president Alistair Routledge as saying.
According to the statement, informal research suggests that languages like Lokono (Arawak), Arekuna, Warrau and Akawaio are in different levels of decline in terms of the number of available speakers. It said research also indicates that in many communities, the indigenous languages are spoken but hardly written, while another noticeable trend has been the growing introduction of English words and phrases into the various languages.
These languages, like close to 3,000 languages in the developing world, are barely represented in technology, according to the Rotary Club, which said economic and developmental challenges have been devastating in terms of their support, preservation and integration. It said this has resulted in technological space that does not understand our names, our cultures, our places, our history.
The statement explained that the first phase of the project will be a pilot to build a translation model for the Macushi language.
“Persons will be recruited in the northern and central Rupununi to develop the Macushi- English language pairs. The language pairs would comprise of English sentences in this instance translated into Macushi and vice versa.
“The overall goal would be to have a Google Translate type experience when English text is entered, the meaning would be immediately displayed in the chosen language. Ultimately the goal would be to do the same with the indigenous texts being translated to English,” it said.
It is envisioned that this portal will be used extensively by hinterland communities and in the government sector as a primary reference as they seek to revive the indigenous languages in Guyana.
The project will also create training and employment opportunities as a result of the level of translation required and documentation and data input services that will be needed.
