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Language and Culture

The Language & Culture Centre is based on the IAD campus. The Centre plays a fundamental role in the maintenance, protection and preservation of language and culture in the Central Australian region. Language maintenance is supported through a range of programs.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Incentive Program

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Incentive program (ATSILIP) is an ATSIS-funded program for language and maintenance projects. ATSILIP provides remote communities with access to funding for projects aimed at maintaining and preserving language and culture. It also creates employment opportunities and allows community members control over projects developed and implemented at the community level. Funding decisions are made by a committee of language speakers from across Central Australia.

Arrernte in Schools

The Arrernte in Schools (AIS) program teaches Arrernte in primary and secondary schools throughout Alice Springs. A significant achievement for this program was the accreditation of the Year 7 and 8 Arrernte Curriculum, the first accredited curriculum of its kind. This program also received favourable comments in the Collins Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory.

Aboriginal Translating and Interpreting Services

The service offered by the Aboriginal Translating and Interpreting Services (ATIS) involves interpreting and translating in most Aboriginal languages and dialects spoken in and around the Alice Springs region. Translation requests vary from translating text for posters and pamphlets to courtroom work. Currently there is a full-time Pitjantjatjara interpreter available and, on request, the Language & Culture Centre can provide interpreters for a range of other Central Australian languages. ATIS provides accredited and experienced interpreters and this service is available to all organisations—be they government, non-government or Aboriginal organisations. This service is offered on a fee-for-service basis and is also available after hours.

Central Australian Dictionaries Program

The Central Australian Dictionaries Program (CADP) develops dictionaries in a range of languages across Central Australia. The dictionaries are then published by IAD Press.

Each language project produces a comprehensive and detailed language dictionary, as well as basic learners’ guides, teaching materials, specialised books and other reading and audio materials.

Intensive field work and community involvement are the keys to completing language research, which can sometimes take several years if not generations to complete. Field work involves employment of language speakers out bush, as well as the establishment of vernacular literacy programs in schools and the promotion of community literacy. Dictionary research is currently being carried out in many communities across Central Australia and in the southern states.

The aims of CADP are to:

• make sure that the language community has control of the project and the material produced;

• work with senior people in the community, who are acknowledged as the language experts;
• help keep the language strong by producing language-learning materials and ensuring that
the material is accessible to the community;

• provide support for Aboriginal people who teach their language in schools.

For more information, please phone: (08) 8951 1340 or email: iad.lang@iad.edu.au

IAD is a registered training organisation (National code: 0167)

3 South Terrace Alice Springs phone: 08 8951 1311 fax: 08 8953 1884 Email: general.info@iad.edu.au

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