Faith Baisden

This is because a lot of people who have heaps to contribute, go to jelly at the thought of standing up with a microphone in front of a big mob to share it all.

THE development of State Policies for Indigenous languages was a key issue at FATSIL's National Indigenous Languages Forum in Sydney. The audience, which included representatives from language projects around Australia, heard of the lead set by New South Wales in drafting policy to protect Indigenous languages, and the steps being taken in other States to follow suit.

In her keynote address, Director General of the NSW Dept. Aboriginal Affairs Linda Burney stressed the need for Governments to take a holistic approach to Indigenous affairs.The improvement of physical and material circumstances achieves little if it isn't underpinned by the development of infrastructure for cultural heritage. Ms Burney said Governments need to understand that cultural heritage, with language at its heart, is more important than dust-free roads.

IN Victoria, British Columbia, the FATSIL delegates attended meetings at the Ministry of Education, and with the First Peoples Cultural Foundation.

In Vancouver they met with heads of the State Tri-partite committee for Education and Cultural Affairs.

some common concerns

PARTICIPANTS in the Interpreting and Training workshop discussed a number of issues that were common to programs from all areas. Speakers noted the difficulty of establishing the training requirements for Interpreters who work with numerous dialects of a range of languages. Training also needs to take into account the use of Aboriginal English and the need for interpretation of this distinct variant of language.

Accredited interpreters are needed in legal, medical and social services. All agreed there was a need for more skilled interpreters and translators, and expressed particular encouragement for young people to be trained.

THE proportion of Commonwealth Education funding reaching Indigenous language programs and the need for States to report on outcomes for the funding received were targeted by FATSIL as key issues in the Review of Languages Other Than English in Schools Program.

Responding to the recent Federal Government inquiry, FATSIL's submission called for a review of the practice of funding Asian and European languages at the expense of Indigenous language programs across Australia.

L to R.Teacher Shirley Costello, Deputy Principal Dora Gibson and LOTE teacher Pearl Deemal.

Since 1994, not only has the program been maintained, but it has been developed and strengthened through the passion and commitment of the Indigenous teachers at the school.

ay as in bay

we are Speaking Gamilaraay C—Yuwaalaraay" is the latest in a range of publications by the Walgett Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay Language Program and is a response by the project team to the growing interest in language in their area.

Language loss is bad news for everyone. It may be a matter of life and death.

"Ecosystems depend on diversity, in this case the diversity of life, from the level of genes to entire ecosystems. Collectively, this is known as biodiversity and although we may not think about (it) in our everyday lives, biodiversity is one of the most fundamental aspects of life on Earth"— Dr David Suzuki (Friend of the First Peoples Cultural Foundation). (www.fpcf.ca)