MS supports development of Eskimo language (fwd)

Fri Oct 14 17:32:51 UTC 2005

MS supports development of Eskimo language

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=115&art_id=qw1129299486993B265

Copenhagen - A project aimed at compiling a glossary of computer words
in Greenlandic, an Eskimo language, has been launched, reports said on
Friday.

Suggestions will be vetted by the Greenland Language Council,
Oqaasileriffik, and the project is sponsored by software giant
Microsoft, the online computer news site ComOn reported.

The initiative was, however, the brainchild of Greenland's main
Information Technology company, Kimik IT.

"I felt that it was a bother and problematic for both users and
programmers not to be able to use their mother tongue. That is why we
contacted Microsoft and the Greenland Language Council which luckily
backed the idea," Ian Wennerfeldt of Kimik IT said.

Per Langgard, who has been selected to moderate the suggestions, said
the initiative was important since a language's viability hinges on
having a "professional terminology".

"I hope that the project will contribute to strengthening the
Greenlandic language," he said.

Greenlandic is an Eskimo language but although the Inuit people of
Canada, the United States and Russia speak variants of it, there is no
common written language.

In comparison with other Inuit variants, Greenlandic has a greater range
of literary works.

Home-ruled Greenland has 56 000 inhabitants. - Sapa-dpa

Published on the Web by IOL on 2005-10-14 09:04:31