Phraselator

[phil cash cash]

For the past week, I have been flooded with emails from people who are
redistributing this news article and others like it.  The news is also
spreading in the community where I am currently doing language fieldwork
(Colville Indian Reservation, Washington).  People who would normally not be
interested in learning a language have also taken an interest in this new
device and are telling me all about it. 

Thus, it is quite facinating how community people are responding to "new
technologies" like the Phraselator.  The fact that indigenous communities are
actually using it really excites people, never mind that it costs 3.5k!  
I wonder if part of the interest that people are taking stem from the
perception that new technologies like this tend to relieve of us of the
complexities of face-to-face interaction and instead offer a more "private,"
unburdened form of learning.  If so, then it certainly fits the trend where
"self-directed" learning styles have become the norm in technology-rich
learning environments. 
Or maybe we have become so technology-saturated that any new device that can
"talk back" to us is our fix...wow.
People like to talk in $$ metaphors, so I will add my "two cents" worth 
here. 
The high price we pay for technology is when we remove the living breathing
fluent speaker from our learning experience and replace them with
language-based technology.  For communities that have no speakers this 
may not
be an issue, but for others it certainly is if you have a living breathing
fluent speaker in your community who is willing to speak to you in your
indigenous language.  
I admit though that learning language is different from documenting the
language and in doucmentation situations technology can be very useful,
sometimes vitally necessary. 
But how often do you hear from our/your language teachers "where are our
language learners?"   Perhaps busy watching TV, DVDs, crusing the internet,
listening to iPods, and fantasizing about using a Phraselator. 
I tease. 
Phil Cash Cash
UofA ILAT

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20060907/2768c165/attachment.htm>