Native-language program to get $250,000 boost (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Native-language program to get $250,000 boost

Monday, April 4, 2005 Page S2
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050404/BCBRIEFS04-1/TPNational/Canada

Victoria -- An Internet-based computer program designed to preserve
aboriginal languages will become more accessible after a cash injection
of $250,000, the province's Minister of Community, Aboriginal and
Women's Services announced yesterday.

"Our heritage, diversity and inclusive society are sources of provincial
pride and a strategic asset that we must maximize," Murray Coell said.

"The preservation of language is a key to building strong aboriginal
communities."

FirstVoices.com was launched in 2003 by an international team of
aboriginal language teachers, linguists and technology specialists as
an easy and cost-effective way to record and teach indigenous
languages.

It provides a set of tools to archive text, sound, picture and video and
to present these resources in language-teaching materials.

The new funding will help additional communities receive training and
have access to language archiving in FirstVoices.com for one year. CP