What’s the Pitjantjatjara word for computer?
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I read Wendy Baarda’a item in yesterday’s Crikey with a mixture of frustration and sadness. Ms Baarda, while right in some areas, misses the boat completely in some and is screamingly condescending and patronising in others. Learning English “gives the children a headache”, teachers “trying to impose a foreign culture”. Isn’t this is just a bit over the top ? There are many things adults of all races make their children do when young because it will benefit them in later life, going to school is one of them. What child hasn’t used the “headache routine” to try and get out of school ? That trick is something well beyond racial background. I live in Alice Springs, where there are more than half a dozen local languages (I’m not sure of the exact number) and to some of the residents of the outlying communities English is a third or a fourth language if they can it speak at all. I see every day how this lack of English skills limits people. For example, I recently watched a man trying to buy some “AA” batteries for his walkman, he was having to use a child of four or five to interpret for him. This was proving frustrating to everyone concerned as the child was limited in his ability to interpret by his age, experience and own linguistic skills. It’s situations like this that cause “the Rage” that Germaine Greer was pilloried for writing about. Lack of proficiency in English not only effects a person’s education, it effects the entire way they interact with the world. If a person’s first language is spoken by less than a thousand others that is a very small base to learn “life” from and discuss new ideas and philosophies. It effects their employability and even their ability to communicate with other indigenous people. This is also a reason why contractors are used on the communities, to comply with OH&S Laws a person has to be able to understand instructions and notices and communicate effectively with their fellow workers. Not being able to speak the major language of a country is a disability equivalent to being profoundly deaf. Limiting a person’s access to and knowledge of, the major language of a country in the name of “cultural purity” borders on the criminally insane. How can a person learn and grow if the only language(s) they can speak is as relevant to the modern world as ancient Babylonian? Does Pitjantjatjara have words for “Computer Program”, “Hypotenuse” or the basic mathematical constant “Pi” or any of the other concepts and “facts of life” that are necessary to know if you want to live more than a basic existence in today’s world ? If it does I am genuinely interested in finding out the words, their etymology and direct translation. Having many friends from non-English speaking backgrounds, including indigenous, I understand how important language is to a feeling of self and culture. Contrary to Ms Baarda’s opinion, I’ve found that many immigrant families are bi-lingual to even the second and third generations, English is spoken in the street and at school, but the “old” language is spoken at home. Some ethnic communities even provide after school coaching in the original language, it all depends on the enthusiasm of the parents whether the children are raised bilingual or not. Being proficient in English does not seem to effect a person’s “Greekness”, “Turkishness” or “Leboneseness” so why should it effect another person’s “Aboriginality”? |
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15 Comments
Eric,
You might get a better ‘effect’ if you use the word ‘affect’.
Yes, my humble opinion is that Mr Baarda is right. I seem to recall that an awful lot of the English language is actually pinched from another language. So to argue that one must learn English to learn doesn’t sound that sensible when the English words used are derived from Latin, Greek, French…et al.
I seem to recall that someone once said (a linguist I think) that language is culture. Well, a lot of people speak English but how many can speak any of the many Aboriginal languages? To save culture you must save language…!
love it when another white mans burden type comes in. i lived in a in alice springs bourke wollongong somewhere so i’m an expert. cr-p!
ps Eric, the french word for internet is l’internet. languages can and do borrow from each other.
Does the Doc agree with me? Well that is something, as his opinion is always appreciated in our burrow. Funny isnt it, again maybe not so funny, that when the whole western commodity capitalist system is on its last legs that places become available for $20m worth of government sponsored placements of Aboriginal children in private schools, that there is a push to find 50,000 jobs for Aboriginal people in ‘industry’ and people get their knickers in a twist about the necessity for Aboriginal children to learn English in the name of ‘development’. The late and great Charles Rowley (heard of him tin pots?) was heard to say that “(Aboriginal) traditions embody a unique and profound view of reality that may even now be developed by Aboriginal scholars to enrich the mainstream of human thought. The skills are precisely what the nation needs to appreciate and to conserve a unique environment in real danger’. And that was in 1970. Esoteric is’nt it chaps? Hard to imagine an Aboriginal future for this country,eh? Im heading off for the nearest watering hole.
Spot on.
And to add weight to your virtue.
It is medically and scientifically shown recently that bilingual exposure and particularly a degree of proficiency developing during early and preschool growth years doubles (as tri-linguallty triples) a child’s corona radiate in the brain so therefore the childs future intellectual growth.
Any normally available opportunity for bi-linguality anywhere on earth should be grabbed with a passion between the ages of 12 to 48 months and anything less will be inexcusable when ignorance of these medical facts leaves.
Erik Broderick – I was going to say that I bet you’re monolingual. But I doubt even that, given you can hardly write even English – “Lack of proficiency in English not only effects a person’s education,” – affects, Erik, affects. The fact that you say that Alice has more than half a dozen languages – WRONG, it’s an Arrernte language area – but you’re not sure exactly how many, betrays both your ignorance and your contempt.
Apart from this stupidity is the bone-headed insistence – despite all the evidence – that you can’t learnt more than one language, when that’s plainly not the case. Kids in properly run bilingual programs speak BETTER English than comparable kids in monolingual schools, as well as being able to acquire knowledge in their own language, rather than through the filter of a foreign language.
Lost amidst all this mindless rhetoric is the fact that a tiny minority of schools are bilingual – only 9! To blame the mere 9 bilingual schools in the NT for the education department’s continued failings is absurd. The department has tasked employees to find stats to “prove” that bilingual schools perform more poorly, even though their own figures show the contrary. The Minister keeps asserting that the evidence shows bilingual schools are worse, but said yesterday that she’ll release the evidence only in January. Lots of massage time!
Come on Crikey, look at this a bit more rigorously – DET is leaking like a sieve, many people in the belly of the beast are livid at this stupidity!!! Go and get the real dirt, it’d be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Some of the above comments remind me of that anti sexual harassment poster- “which part of N O don’t you understand?”. The straw man is increasingly making his presence felt.
“….ignore that schools and school education are not indigenous concepts…. ” So? Neither are brick houses, compulsory Income Management, Shires, 60 year leases and so on.
“….to suggest that without the schools taking responsibilty for Aboriginal languages…” Who is suggesting this? Certainly not Wendy (I suggest you read her contribution again).
What is being said is that the English-only model of education would contribute to the demise of Aboriginal languages. Also what keeps falling on deaf ears is the self evident premise that the most effective way of educating anyone is using the vernacular. Its not about Warlpiri OR English. Its about Warlpiri AND English.
As for the gratuitous “she is paid to do”: Wendy is now retired but she did much more than just “teach English as a second langauge(sic)”, and yes she did find ways of make her classes interesting and exciting.
Funny how every whitefella, linguist or educationalist or not, is an expert on Aboriginal issues (Not so funny, nihilistic really) just start the conversation in any bar and find that they just say over and over again - why cant they just be like me, see the world the way I see it , do the way I do it, I have English language it works for me!, we know whats best for them, no bleeding hearts here……blah, blah. Yeah well guys in this case what is important in bi-lingual education is first of all to produce CONFIDENT LEARNERS in their own language and then the children pick up other languages proficiently as part of their CONFIDENT learning process. How any Aboriginal person retains CONFIDENCE in the midst of the f-king barrage of know-all tin pot experts in this country beats me.
Der Computer-Programm nicht die Konstante Pi in der Messung der Hypotenuse
Ang computer program na hindi gamitin ang tapat na Pi sa pagsukat ng hypotenuse
The computer programme did not use the constant Pi in measuring the hypotenuse
Datamaskinen program ikke brukte den konstant Pi i å måle hypotenuse
Thank you Google Translate. I think the Pitjantjatjara word for computer is computer. The Warlpiri word for hypotenuse is hypotenuse. Hypotenuse is a Greek word.
Eric Brodrick’s makes a strong case for the need of English competency to do well in mainstream society.
Aren’t you people listening? What Wendy wrote and what all pro-bilingual commentators keep saying is NOT against English (in fact they’re using English to say it!). They don’t deny the imperative of Aboriginal children to become proficient in the majority language if they are to get on in life. All they are arguing is that the English-only teaching model will not only fail to succeed but will help to destroy the Aboriginal languages in the process.
Numerous in-depth studies both in Australia and overseas have clearly demonstrated that the most effective way to educate children is using the vernacular.
It’s interesting to see the underlying paradigm in Eric’s article. This is that the modern western culture is better than the traditional tribal one.
In my very humble opinion, it would seem that allowing indigenous children to prioritise their traditional langauage/s in their early learning, whilst also including the learning of English, would be more beneficial, as this promotes greater personal identity and pride in their cultural history.
This hopefully would lead to greater emotional maturity and security in the children, which then would improve success in adapting to the wider cultural framework as they move through adolesence into adulthood.
Well said Eric!
I eventually gave up reading Wendy’s contribution yesterday feeling that it was no contribution at all.
Mr Brodrick, as you most likely know the Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, and Ngaanytjatjara word for help is helpamilani or the more orthographically fashionable alpamilani - either way a loan word. Stating the obivous doesn’t HELP these kids in their educational endeavours however when in most remote communities they nearly all suffer, from six months of age until their teenage years, with chronic supperative otitis media (middle ear infection). It’s a wonder they manage to learn their mother’s tongue let alone a language as cognately alien as English.
“Lack of proficiency in English not only effects a person’s education, it effects the entire way they interact with the world”
Only if that world happens to be patriarchal and privileges english-only speakers above all other social groups.
is the white dude annoyed that His language isn’t quite being worshipped enough?
I agree with Eric - one thing Wendy and others ignore is that schools and school education are not indigenous concepts. Indigenous languages were not traditionally written down by linguists and taught in schools. They are oral languages, taught as part of an oral culture. To suggest that without the schools taking responsibility for Aborigianl languages they will die is arrogant in the extreme. The best way to keep strong Aborigianl language and culture alive is to support Aborigainl people to be strong and healthy so that they can pass on their own language themselves. Wendy is right that teaching English as a second langauge is very hard. But that’s what she is PAID TO DO. If she can’t find a way to make English classes interesting and exciting than she shoudl seek another job.
Frank Baarda,
Well replied.
Eric Brodrick,
I don’t believe you, and so many other ‘only English’ speaking Australians will ever come to understand the struggle involved with keeping a language alive. You do raise valid some points about the usefulness of English in the life of all people in Australia but, I think, you are limited in your opinion and understanding as you, yourself, only speak English.
You make comparisons between your friends who might be Greek, Lebanese, or Turkish and the continuance of their languages in their families. An unfair comparison. I can go grab a Greek/Lebanese/Turkish book to help my sustainment or learning of their languages. Show me where I can grab a Pitjantjatjara book?
If we allow the diminishment of our indigenous languages we lose so much more than individuals can gain by being fluent English speakers. The Pitjantjatjara language has a history that is far longer than Greek/Lebanese/Turkish or English and, once it is gone, it is gone.