Aborigional Group and Language

[Michal CedrychParticipant]

I am wondering would be a good idea to write instructions for operation and basic troubleshooting for our solution, say a bore pump, in both English and the appropriate local Aboriginal language?

I had a look on https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/ but there are many different languages and groups in the Cape York area.

Is there a locally accepted “main” language that would be suitable to use, and would it be appropriate to add this text to instruction labels from a cultural sensitivity perspective?

[Jamie WilsonParticipant]

From the 2016 Census, the Guugu Yimidhirr language appears to be the most commonly spoken Aboriginal language in Cape York, spoken in 18.3% of households. This figure varies throughout Cape York of course, for example in Hope Vale it is spoken in 74.5% of households.

Edit: For some reason my comment disappears if I try and include links. The census information is just from the Census Quickstats website.

[Luke BarbagalloKeymaster]

Hi Michal – thanks for your question!
Also, hi Jamie; thanks for the great resource and follow up.

First off, this is a great consideration to be factoring into your solution – well done for raising so early in the design process.

There are indeed several languages across the Cape, and you can learn more about the language groups here – https://www.pamacentre.org.au/ .

I’d suggest considering the following factors in your design as well:
– Who will be the primary technicians/end users of the bores, should they need repairing? Is their necessarily a need for a bilingual repair manual?
– Are you planning for your solution to be specific to a certain geographic area, and does the associated local language a verbal language only, or has it been transcribed into a latin script?

Ultimately, it is up to you and your group to consider the viability of this for your solution. It is definitely an inclusive approach to include the indigenous languages of the region, however, it is also an appropriate to make the assumption around the capacity of rangers and end users having fluency in English and the ability to translate into local languages when and where necessary. You could also include in your final design solution a strategic pathway for including additional languages as the project is scaled beyond the piloting stage.

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