http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2007/11/28/4691056-sun.html

Military device holds key to saving Oneida language

By JENNIFER O'BRIEN, SUN MEDIA

The problem is, Oneida children don't speak Oneida -- haven't for three
generations -- say leaders from the area First Nation.

But suddenly, thanks to a military tool, the Oneida of the Thames community
has found a way to tap into a solution for its dying language. One that was
there all along.

Some of the 2,000-strong community's eldest -- only 90 still speak fluent
Oneida -- spent yesterday recording phrases in their native language onto
machines called Phraselators.

"This is going to revitalize our language before it dies," said Mary
Elijah, director of Oneida Language and Cultural Centre, gesturing to one
of eight hand-held devices recently bought by the settlement. "This
(Phraselator) is going to outlive everybody."

And not a moment too soon, she said, adding the youngest Oneida speaker is
50 years old, and most are over 70.

Created for the U.S. military, the Phraselator LC allows the user to
translate English words into any native language.

It's used by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Don Thornton, who has
distribution rights to deliver the device to native settlements across
Canada and the U.S.

Thornton, who is Cherokee and originally from Oklahoma, lobbied the U.S.
Army for a year to get approval to sell the devices as a way to help
revitalize native languages.

During the past three years he has sold the device -- which cost about
$3,300 each -- to about 60 tribes in North America, he said.

"Our languages are in bad shape," said Thornton, noting one tribe has only
four speakers left. "If the young people aren't learning it, it's gone."

Language is one of the most important elements of native culture, said Karl
Hele, director of First Nation Studies at the University of Western
Ontario.

"Language is very important to revitalizing a culture because some things
may translate easily to English, but other things don't, specifically in
terms of spirituality and culture," he said.

Hele said many communities are scrambling to hang onto languages that
crumbled during the time of government-run schools that required children
to speak English.

"It is a trend across the board. It is seen as more important to preserve
the language before it gets lost."

Once a native phrase is in a Phraselator, it can easily be played back. Or
the native phrase can be retrieved by speaking the English equivalent into
the machine.

Buying the eight Phraselators is only one part of a broad strategy, Elijah
said.

The band has undertaken a $300,000 project, funded by revenue from Casino
Rama near Orillia, to create a thorough Oneida language curriculum for
children in Grades 1 to 8.

Put together with audio discs, teacher guides and student workbooks, the
curriculum was designed so any non-Oneida speaking teacher at any school
board could use it to teach students, she said.

"This has never been done before," said Elijah, adding the course will be
implemented at Oneida's Standing Stone school in January, and available for
purchase by any other boards.

At a London hotel yesterday, several Oneida elders worked with technicians,
recording countless phrases in Oneida for the Phraselator.

"I just love it, I think this thing is awesome," said Daisy Elijah, 86, the
eldest master speaker.

"This is part of our heritage. It is who we are, and now the language will
be preserved."