Nunavut tech org gets federal grant to expand iPad language app

Here’s a screen shot of the iPad application Singuistics made by Pinnguaq. The app will be expanded to included Cree, Ojibwe, Dene and Mi’kmaq. (FILE IMAGE)

The Pangnirtung-based Pinnguaq Association is getting $82,859 from the Department of Canadian Heritage to add four new Aboriginal languages to its Singuistics language education app, the department announced Dec. 30 in a news release.

Singuistics, originally called “Songbird,” was first developed to help user learn Inuktitut by singing and recording songs on a karaoke-like interface.

The app, designed for the iPad and available at the iTunes store, was developed in Pangnirtung with graphic images created by Nunavut artists.

Now, Pinnguaq wants to expand the app by adding four more languages: Cree, Ojibwe, Dene and Mi’kmaq.

That means the app’s target users will be expanded to include Aboriginal language learners living within the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick.

“This support from the Government of Canada will help the Pinnguaq Association to develop an innovative and interactive learning language tool that will benefit numerous Aboriginal communities across the country. It will allow the Association to continue the important work being done to strengthen the Inuktitut language and to develop the learning of other Aboriginal languages,” Ryan Oliver, the director of the Pinnguaq Association said in a news release.

The expanded app will include three songs for each language and detailed language lessons with “authentic artwork” to interpret each song.

“I would like to commend the Pinnguaq Association for developing new interactive tools to support the preservation of Aboriginal languages in Canada,” Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq said in a news release.