ALNF WINS AT SXSW

We are thrilled to announce that our Living First Language Platform won in its category of ‘Innovation in Connecting People’ at the 2019 South by Southwest (SXSW) Innovation Awards in Austin, Texas today. 

Globally, there are over 370 million Indigenous people across 90 countries. Every 14 days an Indigenous language disappears. Within Australia alone 50% of Indigenous languages are gone forever, and only 13 are considered strong and viable. When languages die, we lose more than words. We lose a carrier of culture; vital to the everyday and long-term wellbeing of individuals and communities. We lose the connection we share with ourselves, our traditions, and cultural history.

ALNF’s Living First Language Platform addresses the urgent need to revitalise, preserve and teach Indigenous Languages through the development of community-driven, interactive and dynamic digital literacy apps for not only First Language speakers, but also the many communities that support them. The ground-breaking platform includes key features that enhance literacy outcomes, including the ability to:

• Reveal the code of traditional languages by understanding their unique pronunciation and phonogram patterns.
• Provide translations from First Language to English and vice versa.
• Experience words as whole words, syllables, sounds and phonograms.
• See how particular sounds are formed in the mouth.
• Use unique mobile applications to rapidly collect assets.
• Use the tool to explore words and sentences.
• Record and experience stories and culture.

Users can interact with the platform to contribute, organise, experience, teach, and learn in their Mother Tongue, and the platform serves to empower communities to be their own change-makers, teachers, and language experts.

Eric Brace, ALNF Director of Programs states, “Receiving this international recognition is a win for First Languages in Australia, with the potential to impact individuals and communities across the globe. ALNF is incredibly honoured to be a recipient of this prestigious and competitive award, and continues to be deeply passionate about contributing to the vital maintenance, revitalisation and revival of First Languages.”