ARDS Workshop: Yolŋu Literacy and Translation

This month we were delighted to have partnered with ARDS Aboriginal Corporation (Northern Territory), who ran their Literacy and Translation Workshop from June 7th - 11th in Darwin. The team focused on Yolŋu languages, texts, sounds, songs, and stories. The team shared daily updates with us throughout the week to show us what they worked on.

Day 1

Day 1 of Literacy Workshop was successful! The phrase for today was ‘Literacy is liberation’. We began the day sharing literacy dhäwu (story) and our need to learn. After this, groups reads texts to compare content and context. In the afternoon, we practiced syllabes, from yäku (names) to bäpurru yäku (clan names). We used Yolŋu Matha Alphabet cards to create various syllables permitted in Yolŋu Matha pronounciation. We ended the day learning Yolŋu Matha vowels and nasals using a Gupapuyŋu and a Djambarrpuyŋu text. It has been a special day, appreciating the time we have together to learn.

Day 2

Day 2 of the Literacy workshop had us moving. The phrase for today was ”Funk with Us”, inspired by Baker Boy!

We began the day with descriptions of Yolŋu Matha sounds: how we make the sounds and also how we write the letters. Maratja shared a beautiful dhäwu (story) about Yolŋu songlines, and the strength behind sounds.

In the afternoon, we transcribed the Yolŋu Matha words in a song by Baker Boy - a creative song for youth that connects Yolŋu world and Balanda world. This inspired us to do a little creative writing.

One group came up with the following:

Guŋga’yunawuy märaŋ ŋaḻapaḻmirriwuŋ

Ga dhärukku marŋgithi ga romgu limurruŋ

-Seek help from our elders,

Learn our language and culture.

Days 3, 4, & 5

Today we finished our big week of learning and sharing knowledge about literacy and translation. We brainstormed words in Yolŋu languages to talk about principles of translation: accuracy, clarity, and naturalness. We also talked about ways to explain a text's purpose, style and impact in Yolŋu languages, to help guide translators in their work. We finished the week off by putting all these new skills into practice by working as a group on a few texts that needed translating from English into Yolŋu languages.

We were so lucky to have experienced, senior translators and language workers guiding us all week: we all learn a lot from them, and each other. Thankyou to Living Languages and the Federal Government’s Indigenous Languages and Arts program for this special opportunity – this workshop was a first for ARDS, but we have lots of ideas about doing it again one day!