The Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre at the University of New Brunswick launching a new smartphone app to help people learn the Wolastoqey language.
Centre director David Perley came up with the idea, along with his wife Imelda, who is the university’s elder-in-residence.
Perley tells us the Wolastoqey Latuwewakon Language app launched last week, and the feedback they’ve received so far has been positive.
“Like the Mi’kmaq language, the Wolastoqey language is also considered to be an endangered language, which means that within the communities, the only fluent speakers you have … are the elders of the community,” he says. “The younger generation, they may know a few words in the language, but they’re not fluent speakers.”
Perley says one person has described the app as having an elder guiding you as you learn the language.
There are sections on seasons, holidays, geographical regions, plants, animals, family, ceremonies and medicine, among others.
Imelda’s voice is the one you’ll hear on the app, saying all of the Wolastoqey phrases, and she tells us about some of what she’s heard.
“Just recently, I got an excited young woman who lived in our community and moved away to Ontario,” she says, “and she sent me lots of hearts and saying ‘Oh my gosh, I thought I’d never hear my language again, thank you.’ It’s almost as if we’re sending out virtual smoke signals that we’re still here.”
As for what’s next, Perley says plans are in the works for a second app, which could be released in the coming weeks.
The project was carried out in collaboration with Winnipeg-based native language app developer Ogoki Learning Inc., Fredericton-based digital marketing company Essential Studios, and Atlantic Canada’s First Nation Help Desk.
