Indigenous language knowledge leading to more employment in Alice Springs

A Red Centre language school says its students are getting job offers before they’ve finished studying. Read how a new dictionary will help even more community members.

An Alice Springs language school says the launch of the first Western Arrarnta dictionary will increase employability for its pupils, as demand for translators rises in the community.

Western Arrarnta was one of the first Indigenous languages taught in Northern Territory schools, but an official dictionary did not exist until last week.

Alice Springs Language Centre principal Susan Moore said the creation of the dictionary was spearheaded by students who wanted to complete assignments accurately in their own language.

Over two and a half years pupils worked together with Elders and language experts to manufacture the dictionary, composed of more than 2400 words, which was launched at Ntaria School in Hermannsburg on Thursday.

“We have a lot of students who are Western Arrarnta and they and their families were really keen for them to do their assignments in their own language,” she said.

A copy of the new Western Arrarnta Dictionary. Western Arrarnta was one of the first Indigenous languages taught in Northern Territory schools, but an official dictionary did not exist until last week.

“There were a few small word lists and we started pulling them all together, and then we worked with all the elders to get example sentences for the word lists, and then students kept finding words they needed that were missing and it kept growing.”

Alongside the launch of the hard-copy dictionary, an online version is now available which the centre is constantly updating.

Ms Moore said having a Western Arrarnta dictionary young people could use to check their translations and spelling was extremely significant for her students both culturally and in relation to employment options.

“There are a lot of jobs in town in the language industry at the hospital, as interpreters and translators for lots of artists or writing stories and for all these different Aboriginal organisations,” she said.

“It’s leading to a lot of our students getting offered jobs when they’re still in school, it’s really quite exciting and important for the students.”

Students at Ntaria School in Hermannsburg for the launch of the West Arrarnta Dictionary. Alice Springs Language Centre principal Susan Moore said the creation of the dictionary was spearheaded by senior students who wanted to complete assignments in their own language.

Centralian Senior College senior Arrarnta teacher Jannette McCormack said the dictionary would help to maintain the language by allowing students to strengthen their knowledge.

“We have had Arrarnta literacy since the late 1900s when the Lutheran missionaries started a bilingual school at Hermannsburg – that is nearly 150 years,” she said.

“This dictionary will help students prepare for language jobs in workplaces, it will help them to socialise with elders. It will help to ‘close the gap’”.

The dictionary is available in hard copy at the Alice Springs Language Centre, with a small number of books available at Red Kangaroo Books in Alice Springs.