A window of opportunity for the Inuit (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

A window of opportunity for the Inuit
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=115&art_id=qw1080719282828C535&set_id=1

Toronto - How would an Inuit hunter who scratches out a meagre living in
the Arctic chill write "email", "log off" or "shut down"?

That's a teaser facing Microsoft programers in their new project to
adapt Windows XP and Office applications to the ancient tongue of
Inuktitut, spoken by the Inuit, formerly known as Eskimos.

The frozen Inuit homeland encompasses some of the planet's coldest and
most inhospitable regions in parts of north-eastern Russia, areas of
Greenland, Alaska and northern Canada.

Computing is not among the Inuit's typical pursuits, as the civilisation
has been passed from generation to generation with storytelling, drum
dancing and hunting and fishing skills.

'It will bring the community closer'

So the first task for software engineers is to find words and concepts
in the Inuit language applicable to computers.

"It is very important to us to make sure the composition of the words is
acceptable to the community," said Mina Gharbi-Hamel, Windows
International Programming Manager to Microsoft Canada.

Microsoft's venture will mark the first time the software behemoth's
programs have been made available in an aboriginal Canadian language.

The move will also represent a substantial boost for a language, which
like other ancient and native tongues is suffering from the global
onslaught of English.

A development team is to spend four to six months compiling a glossary
of words to be used in the program, which will allow Inuit users to
follow the menus and commands familiar to millions of Windows users.

Inuit is a particularly difficult language to adapt as it is written as
a mixture of symbols and consonants.

The program will be offered free as a downloadable "skin" on Microsoft's
website to existing Windows customers.

Gharbi-Hamel visited the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, earlier
this year, where Inuit is the official government language, to research
potential consumers for the project.

"It will bring the community closer," she said.

"I think there will be some job opportunities too, in areas where there
is technology but where people see barriers because of their language."

Published on the Web by IOL on 2004-03-31 09:48:03