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President's Report |
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August 1999 |
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As a result of my trip to France, on the occasion of the 9e Colloque Internationale des Études Créoles et Francophones, held from June 23-29, 1999 in Aix-en-Provence, France, two names stand out: one, the name of a person; the other, the name of a place. Jeff Allen. Seychelles. Remember them. Both are now a part of our past, present and future. Jeff because he helps me to understand who and what we are on a global scale. Seychelles because we are headed there in October to take our first steps in partnership with the Seychelles government to adapt our technology to the needs of that island nation on the other side of the earth. |
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Meet Jeff Allen Jeff Allen is a speech-to-text/machine translation/controlled languages/Creole linguistics specialist [formerly of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and now Technical Director at the European Language Resources Association (ELRA) Jeff was the person who got our foot in the door of the Creole linguistics world less than 2 years ago. He was the one who invited me to present my research within the context of his presentation at the January 1998 annual meeting of the Society for Pidgin and Creole Languages in NYC - which in turn got me invited to officially present a talk at the Miami Creole Workshop 2 months later - which precipitated Dany Adone's interest in seeing our Haitian Creole technology applied to other Creoles and Pidgins - which led to her calling of this Orthography Workshop in France. Some Quotes from Jeff Allen ...The concepts of globalization and localization have come about over the past 10 years because large corporations 10+ years ago were trying to force a single strategy, a single mindset, a single mentality and worldview upon other cultures, and it did not work. They realized that not everyone wanted English for everyday work products and procedures, that not everyone had the same way of thinking, etc. The result was a significant, and ever-increasing, emphasis on adapting the services and products to local peoples, and this is now a major preoccupation for hundreds, if not thousands, of companies. ...The rapid rise in use of information and communication technologies will naturally favour languages which can be successfully processed... The long-term viability of languages not specifically supported is therefore put at risk (European Economic Community, 1995). ...I therefore see no problem in promoting the Haitian Creole language at an international level, promoting internet sites that market it at a global level, making ministers in Haiti aware of the potential of this language at all levels, and convincing managers in major software and technology corporations/companies that Haitian Creole is just like any other language and that it also can be invested in. |
Seychelles '99 As a result of meeting in France with Penda Berlouis, Director of the government-sponsored Institut Kreol of the Seychelles, I received this fax in July: The secretariat of the 1999 Symposium Organising Committee is pleased to inform you that your participation in the 1999 International Symposium on the Creole Language and Culture in Seychelles, 25th to 28th October 1999, will be FULLY FUNDED by the Kreol Festival Committee . Please note that your stay in Seychelles will be covered for the duration of the symposium. This includes air-fare, hotel costs, nourishment and internal travel related to the symposium.What is Seychelles '99? A symposium entitled KREOLITE DAN LEMONN, LEMONN DAN KREOLITE (Creolity & Globalisation) to be held in Mahé, Seychelles, from October 25-28, 1999. The main purpose of this symposium is, first, to take stock of the achievements of "Bann Zil Kreol" out of resolutions it took from its encounter of 1982 and, second, to assess the role of Creole in the global village context with the aim of presenting a clear vision of the direction that Creole is to take in the new millenium and what we from Creole societies can do to preserve it in its entirety. The main theme will cover the following sub-themes:
My subjects will be: "Orthography Standardisation Tools: Preparing Creole Languages for the New Millenium" and "Kreol + Computers + Internet = A Bright Future for Kreol!". |
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Jeff and Guylaine Allen |
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More Quotes from Jeff Allen ...I am talking about major influences on the global economy for the coming century. I am talking about Internet sites, Internet language-specific search engines, voice dictation software, spell checkers, information retrieval, multi-media and multi-modal applications, computer-aided design and graphics, workflow applications, authoring systems and desktop publishing, computer assisted language learning (CALL), MIDI systems and music software, scanners and optical character recognition (OCR), etc..... You cannot say that these different types of systems and applications do not affect you, Haitians, the president and the ministers in Haiti, import and export companies, tourism in Haiti, Haitian telecoms, newspapers, radio, TV, etc..... ...Marilyn Mason of Mason Integrated Technologies Ltd has developed orthography software that can be used on multiple platforms. As a small start-up company, she is actively seeking partnership with local groups to port her technologies to different languages, possibly within the framework of US- and European-funded projects. She has worked in Zaire and in Haiti and with local ethnic groups in Boston, USA and is familiar with the issues of cultural localization. Her software is usable, functional, and accurate and has benefitted from detailed comments from such people as Yves Dejean, who directed the Government-sponsored Literacy Center in Haiti. His comments were immediately integrated (within a couple of days) to form a new version of her software. Turn-around time with her is very fast because she has a small company. Investing in Mason Integrated Technologies LtdSetting up a company such as ours takes money. Staff must be hired, equipment must be purchased, supplies must be bought, transportation and communications costs must be met, etc. BEFORE WE CAN ENTER INTO or FULFILL contracts, in order to begin the process of earning capital to defray costs, grow, and eventually produce a profit! To raise the necessary start-up capital, we are selling shares Marilyn P. Mason, President P.O. Box 181015 Boston, MA 02118 USA 617-247-8885 (office phone) http://hometown.aol.com/mit2usa/Index2.html |
France Orthography Workshop The Orthography Workshop took place on Saturday, June 26th, from 1:30-5:30 PM. Eight speakers were given twenty minutes each. The format was too hurried and jam-packed to allow for full expression for any one of the presenters but it was a tremendous opportunity to showcase projects and researchers and to catch a glimpse of the wider picture. Due to the hurried nature of the presentations, the scene was then set for further "ad hoc" small group activity to take place among interested parties over the final days of the Colloque. Each of us knew the people we needed to seek out in order to gain further information and to strike collaborations. My talk was very well-received. Dr. Albert Valdman of the Creole Institute at Indiana University and Jeff Allen set the tone at the technical level to prepare the audience for my practical, non-linguistics-oriented presentation of solutions to the very orthographical instability problems they had already outlined. Because of lack of time in the Workshop for a demonstration of our software, I was graciously given another whole 20-minute slot, with 10 additional minutes for Q&A - during the New Technologies Session on the final day of the conference, giving us access to an even wider audience than originally anticipated. New Frontiers - Indian Ocean Creoles The Seychelles are a group of islands in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya, East Africa - not far from Mauritius, the birthplace of Dr. Dany Adone, who has been challenging us to expand our technology to Indian Ocean Creoles since March of 1998 in Miami. As a stranger to most of the participants, in the first days I observed more than I acted; listened more than talked. One thing I noted was the intermingling of all the participants from Seychelles and Mauritius. Eventually, I learned why. Mauritius is further along in the development of its Creole than is Seychelles; therefore, a number of its researchers (like Dany Adone and Vinesh Hookoomsing) have attained very high status in the field of Creole linguistics worldwide. But Seychelles is catching up because it has a high level of government support for the standardization of its written Creole language. And Seychelles' researchers and language leaders look to the world-class experts right next door in Mauritius for guidance as to their next steps. Now, enter the Orthography Workshop and the more global announcement of our existence to, among others, the Indian Ocean Creole specialists, who since 1982 have committed to regional stabilization of their written Creoles. The rest is now history! My participation in Seychelles '99 is our company's first step of collaboration with the Indian Ocean nations to help enable them to reach their language preservation goals. |
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Koutwazi / Courtesy of The Creole Clearinghouse |
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