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A few organizations create native language textbooks, software and in rare
cases college level courses, but there is a paucity of free, quality language
lessons on the web; despite the fact websites have numerous advantages over
traditional distance language learning techniques:
| 1) |
They are free to view. Textbooks cost money to produce.
SAIVUS offers quality tutorials for free and all of our tutorials are optionally
printable so they may be distributed to others lacking internet access. This is
cheaper and less wasteful than having books mass produced and marketed, as no
books remain unsold. |
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| 2) |
They are easily accessible. Many textbooks on native languages are
difficult to track down and are usually housed in specialty locations like
American Indian craft shops. In fact, is unlikely you will find any at your
local bookstore or public library. On the other hand, anyone with internet
access can visit SAIVUS. Public libraries and other institutions offer free
internet access to citizens lacking computers. |
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| 3) |
They can contain sound files and interactive elements. Books are
sometimes accompanied by CDs or tapes, which are expensive and require one to
own a CD or tape player. SAIVUS' sound files can be played instantaneously with
the click of a button; you do not have to replay an entire track or
fast-forward/rewind excessively. New software like Flash is currently helping us
program interactive quizzes and games for helping students memorize and apply
concepts. |
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| 4) |
They can be updated constantly. Books are updated infrequently since
each new edition must be reprinted, and in fact many books have fallen out of
print. SAIVUS' tutorials can be updated instantly and infinitely. |
Our strategy is to first produce a pronunciation guide and/or writing system
guide for a given language. These components of language can be studied in
isolation from grammar, which is much more intensive. If all goes well, we then
start writing a grammar guide for that language.
Since many readers do not have an educational background, we explain every term
we use from 'noun' or 'verb' to 'nominalizer' and 'participle'. We do our best
to break down complicated notions, relate grammatical concepts to English, and
do justice to every school of thought on an issue. However, we strongly avoid
"dumbing things down", viewing native languages from a Eurocentric framework,
and harboring bias on controversial issues. We are confident everybody can know
these languages like the back of their hand, once they are explained in the
correct light.
Knowledge of American Indian languages for the tutorials comes primarily from
two sources:
| a) |
direct experience with native speakers or written discourse |
b) |
academic research papers |
Option a) is preferred, but unfortunately fieldwork is very expensive. In some
cases we collaborate with existing research efforts, but are otherwise forced to
rely on option b) only.
Where do print sources come from? Many people are under the impression that the
selection of commercial books, newspapers and magazines in a bookstore or public
library is the scope of man's knowledge on a topic, when it is really just a
small percentage. Actually, the majority of works on Native American languages
exists in the form of academic books, out of print sources, unpublished
manuscripts, Ph.D. dissertations and Masters theses, peer-reviewed journal
articles, and conference proceedings. The following flow-chart outlines how the
research process works.
There are several drawbacks to performing research using print sources alone.
Most crucially, outdated sources can contain mistakes. For instance, it was once
a common practice to solicit English translations of words and sentences from
native informants, instead of working with authentic discourse, which has
tainted some descriptions of pronunciation and grammar. These flaws can trickle
down to our lessons.
However, in most cases these drawbacks are minimal to the point where creating some
kind of resource is better than remaining inactive. Keep in mind that the
information we provide is on the market in some form already; we're just making
it easier to get. Our linguists do our best to sift out highly questionable
claims and convert scientific data to laymen's terms. Note also that once a
new study on a language is performed, we will update our lessons with their
superior findings.
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