Reviving an Indigenous language. MRU students develop new app to learn Blackfoot.
Posted Oct 11, 2019 12:11 pm.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Mount Royal University is offering a new way to learn the Blackfoot language.
A new augmented reality app called DeciphAR will allow people to use English signs in the library at MRU that will be translated to the Indigenous language.
“So with that users are able to scan the signs and they get audio pronunciations and they also get the explanation of the translation,” said Chase Schrader who helped develop the app. “Because Blackfoot doesn’t translate one-to-one with English, they actually get a better understanding of the language and how it functions.”
Schrader hopes the technology can be expanded in the future.
When he looked at other apps like Google Translate, he saw it didn’t have any information on the Blackfoot language.
Jessie Loyer is an Indigenous Studies librarian involved in this project. She said the language is very much alive and important to remember.
“I think we’re at a point in history where people are realizing that we’ve been living with a huge gap. This is true of libraries too. Our library collections really represent a gap in Indigenous knowledge.”
Loyer adds the app is a great way for people to learn about Indigenous languages, many of which nearly disappeared in Canada.
