Muurrbay staff and Gumbaynggirr language teachers came together for training in  the transcribing program ELAN. Led by Muurrbay consultant linguist Albert Burgman, the training focused on how we can use ELAN to transcribe incredibly valuable recordings of speakers, resulting in a time-aligned file that matches up the audio recording with the written text. This is particularly useful for the Bundjalung, Dhanggati and Gumbaynggirr languages which have significant amounts of archival audio recordings of Elders from many years ago. We can segment these audio recordings into words, phrases and sentences that can then be uploaded to electronic dictionaries, and in the future, language learning apps.  It is also useful for all languages as people are increasingly  recording today’s speakers.

Training took place on the 11-12th April for linguists and language teachers working on Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Gathang. Language teachers plan to use the program to help them locate Elders pronouncing specific words and sentences, which will be helpful in allowing students to access these valuable recordings. Feedback suggests it was a useful exercise, and we plan to have more in-servicing for staff and associates later in the year! Please contact Muurrbay if you are interested in future ELAN workshops.