I want a Phraselator!!!

[Andre Cramblit]

Saving a language
Computer translator preserve native cultures

By Dolly A. Butz Journal staff writer
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/06/06/news/top/ 
bc9e9a3670e0f4e6862572f2000e58d6.txt

Sitting in classroom resembling a traditional earthlodge, Susan Freemont
spoke the phrase "Speak Omaha to me" in her native language into a  
headset
microphone Tuesday at the Omaha Nation Public School.

Freemont is one of a dwindling group of elders who fluently speak the  
Omaha
language. With the help of a high-tech military tool called a  
Phraselator
LC, the 80-year-old's words will help preserve a dying language for  
future
generations.

"It's very important for our future to keep our culture," Freemont said.

The revolutionary Phraselator LC, developed by defense contractor Voxtec
International after 9/11, is a handheld unit that allows the user to
instantly translate spoken English words and phrases into any native
language. It was created to heighten communication in combat zones to  
save
lives on both sides of the conflict.

The Phraselator LC is currently being used by U.S. troops to  
translate Farsi
in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Don Thornton, who is Cherokee, obtained the device from the military  
defense
contractor. Thornton, the president of Banning, Calif., based Thornton
Media, Inc., the only tool company in the world devoted to Native
languages, and his wife Kara, brought the Phraselator LC to Macy, Neb.,
this week, where they are working with tribal members.

"I read about it a couple years after it came out, and approached (the
miliary defense contractor) with the idea of using it for a Native  
American
language organization, but they weren't interested," Thornton said.  
"They
basically told me 'no,' for a year and half, so I kept at them and they
eventually relented. They really didn't think there was going to be a
market for it."

Thornton said the Phraselator LC has been "extremely successful" and  
that he
is currently working with approximately 60 tribes in the United  
States and
Canada.

"The main feature of Phraselator that tribes really like is that fact  
that
tribes can control the whole process themselves," he said. "In other  
words
they don't need outsiders anymore. We provide the hardware, software and
the training for a tribe to do it all themselves."

On Tuesday Omaha elders sat next to technology coordinator Joshlyn  
Parker,
who prompted them to say an assortment of phrases, 550 in all,  
ranging from
commands to sentences relating to eating and home life.

After the phrases were recorded on a laptop computer, Parker played them
back and then saved them to the Phraselator LC.

When an English word is spoken, the Phraselator LC answers with the  
Omaha
translation. The user cannot only hear the word, they can also see the
fonts on a small screen. Besides voice, the device also translates via
touch-screen or toggle button.

Vida Stabler, Omaha Language and Cultural Center director, said the
Phraselator LC will be a "useful tool" for teachers and future  
educators.

"Our elders are few in number now, and because of that we need to  
make sure
that we have enough information documented so that we have help," she  
said.
"No one in my age group is fluent. We have people that understand my
language. However, they're not speaking and that's what the real  
concern in
our community is. We need to develop speakers. I see the Phraselator  
as one
tool to be able to do that."

Once their language is recorded, Thornton said the tribes have complete
control over the recordings.

A few years ago, Thornton said he brought a Cherokee-English  
dictionary to
his grandmother's house in Oklahoma. His grandmother, a master  
speaker of
the Cherokee language, said the author of the dictionary frequently  
asked
her how to pronounce words and edit word lists for him. Thornton said  
his
grandmother's name didn't appear anywhere in the dictionary.

"For me it was an example of kind of an exploitation that goes on with
language," he said. "I was on the lookout for something whereby a tribe
could control all of their own content."

Although Stabler said the home is the best environment in which to  
learn a
language, she said the Phraselator LC is one step toward realizing her
dream.

"The dream is to someday have an immersion classroom -- an immersion  
home
where our children can go there and learn," she said.

Stabler said she has a team of six people who work on a daily basis to
preserve the Omaha language and culture. Over the past 10 years she said
15-20 people have recorded video and audio.

Getting the community involved is the only way, Thornton said language
preservation can be successful. He said the Phraselator LC alone is  
not a
solution.

"We don't revitalize languages ourselves," he said. "It's beyond our  
power.
It takes a whole community to revitalize a language."