The Alice Springs Language Centre is providing greater choice to middle years students, today launching the new Middle Years Indigenous Language Translation Course for Centralian Middle School and Arlparra School students.
The course provides students the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Indigenous languages including learning how to translate between English and Indigenous languages.
Developed in consultation with key industry stakeholder groups, the course has been designed to ensure that it meets the specific needs of the local workforce.
Principal of the Alice Springs Language Centre Dominique Castle said “The translation course gives middle years students a fantastic opportunity to gain employment in the communications and languages industries.”
“There is a very real need in Indigenous communities for workers to be able to translate languages effectively and this course provides students with those exact skills,” Ms Castle said.
“I am confident this course will provide students with the hands-on skills and knowledge to enter a career in translation, whether that be as a language teacher, health worker, interpreter or media broadcaster – the opportunities are endless.”
Ms Castle hopes to expand the program to schools right across the Central and Barkly regions, and potentially work towards offering vocational education and training (VET) pathways in partnership with Centralian Senior College.
“I’d love to team up with a registered training organisation and be able to deliver VET certificates in Applied Language studies, to give students in Alice Springs a clear pathway to a career in translation,” Ms Castle said.
As part of the trials conducted last semester, students from Centralian Middle School worked with tech-company iTalk to translate an app for smart phones from English to Arrernte language, which will be available on app stores in the coming weeks.
The Eastern and Central Arrernte Plants app translates Central Australian bush tucker and plants between Eastern and Central Arrernte language including where and when to find the plants and how they can be used.
Susan Moore, Languages Consultant with the Department of Education said “The students were so excited to work on the app with iTalk – it provided students the ability to put their learning into practice and gave a greater understanding of what sort of work they could do with this knowledge.”
“Understanding the differences between Indigenous languages and English reaffirms the importance of language to the students and this course gives them the confidence to enter the workforce after school.”
Media Contact: Kat Acampora – 0401 119 215