Preserving ethnic minority languages

(Quang Ngai Newspaper) - Promoting the application of digital technology to build a database of ethnic minority languages ​​is an urgent requirement to preserve the languages ​​of ethnic minorities in our province from the risk of extinction.

The first digital database of languages

In our province, there are about 187 thousand ethnic minorities. Of which, more than 166.3 thousand are Hre and Co ethnic people. The worrying thing is that the Hre and Co languages ​​are gradually being lost. To look up and learn the Hre and Co languages, learners spend a lot of time searching for textbooks, research documents or participating in training courses from experts to be able to read and pronounce. Faced with this situation, in 2022, the Quang Ngai Information and Communication Technology Center (Department of Information and Communications) chaired and coordinated with the Provincial Ethnic Committee to implement the project of Building an electronic database of the Vietnamese - Hre and Vietnamese - Co ethnic minority languages. This is the first digital database of the languages ​​of ethnic minorities in our province.

Quang Ngai Information Technology and Communication Center opened a training class to guide civil servants and teachers in Tra Bong district to use electronic database software in ethnic minority languages. PHOTO: DVCC

Master Tran Duy Linh - Director of the Quang Ngai Information Technology and Communication Center (project leader) said that the Hre and Co people both have their own languages, the common point is that they belong to the Mon - Khmer language group (South Asian language family). Before 1975, they had their own writing system, using the Latin character system to transcribe speech. This type of writing was widely used but is no longer used today. In that context, the problem is how ethnic minorities can both speak and write fluently in Vietnamese and use their own ethnic language. At the same time, Kinh people working and living in districts with a large number of ethnic minorities can also communicate with people in the language of the ethnic group there. Along with that, preserving and promoting the value of the language as well as the traditional cultural values ​​of ethnic minorities in the context of deep integration is taking place.

Director of Quang Ngai Information Technology and Communications Center Tran Duy Linh has successfully built an electronic database of ethnic minority languages ​​Viet - Hre, Viet - Co. Photo: MY DUYEN

After more than 2 years of implementing the project, the Project Management Board has completed the construction of the electronic database of the Hre and Co languages ​​and applied artificial intelligence technology to recognize the Hre and Co languages. The implementation of the project has solved 3 problems at the same time, which are digitizing data, building an electronic database and applying artificial intelligence AI. To build the database of ethnic minority languages, the Project Management Board relied on the data sources of the Hre and Co languages ​​in 2 sets of documents: "Training and fostering the Hre language (for cadres and civil servants in mountainous areas and ethnic affairs in Quang Ngai province)" and the document "Bai hok Apok Kool (Co language lessons)", combined with surveys and research on the actual situation of mountainous districts to collect vocabulary of Vietnamese, Hre and Co languages ​​frequently used in life. From there, the corresponding words were digitized to establish the electronic database Viet - Hrê, Viet - Co. From the established data warehouse, the Project Management Board successfully developed an electronic database software that can be used on electronic devices such as computers and smartphones, with the purpose of semantic search between the languages ​​Viet - Hrê, Viet - Co. Currently, the electronic database software Viet - Hrê, Viet - Co can be accessed on the website platform at: csdlhreco.nuian.vn and the mobile application "Hrê - Co - Việt" running on both Android and iOS platforms.

Electronic database software interface of ethnic minority languages ​​Viet - Hre, Viet - Co. Photo: MY DUYEN

“The process of implementing the database of ethnic minority languages ​​encountered many difficulties. Because the pronunciation of the Hre and Co people in the mountainous districts of the province has different characteristics. Although they are all Hre ethnic minorities, the Hre people in Ba To and Son Ha districts have some words that are pronounced differently, although they are synonymous. Therefore, we spent a lot of time researching documents, collecting data from many different voices and asking for opinions from experts on digitization and applying artificial intelligence to build a bilingual vocabulary of Vietnamese - Hre, Vietnamese - Co, so that the process of looking up ethnic minority languages ​​by voice is most optimized,” Mr. Tran Duy Linh shared.

"The electronic database of ethnic minority languages ​​of Viet - Hre, Viet - Co is a digital vocabulary database of Hre and Co, helping native speakers to be aware of preserving and developing their mother tongue. Thereby, forming a complete and authentic information resource, helping current and future generations of researchers have accurate documents. At the same time, contributing to preserving for future generations not only the language but also the unique traditional cultural values ​​of ethnic minorities in the province. The application of the first online electronic database in the province also contributes to improving people's ability to access and apply technology, especially in remote areas, contributing to building a team of digital citizens, developing a digital society, and integrating into the general digital transformation flow of the province and the whole country".

Director of Department of Construction, former Head of Board

Ethnic group of TRAN VAN MAN province

Up to now, the Project Management Board has completed the construction of an electronic database with more than 3,000 Hrê and Co words placed on the server infrastructure installed by the Quang Ngai Information Technology and Communications Center. A website system using the API interface has been built to allow searching and looking up; with a word typing function, the website is capable of allowing 3,000 simultaneous connections; and a tool to support typing in the Hrê and Co ethnic languages ​​on the interface. The electronic database provides features including word translation, word pronunciation, viewing illustrative examples, viewing synonyms, near-synonyms, forward and reverse translation between Vietnamese - Hrê, Hrê - Vietnamese; between Vietnamese - Co and Co - Vietnamese. In addition, there is a channel to receive contributions from users of the electronic database (the "feedback - suggestion" feature) to collect more linguistic data, improve the dictionary product and serve as a basis for other studies.

Practical, effective

Recently, the Quang Ngai Information Technology and Communications Center has organized 5 training courses on management and exploitation of electronic databases for nearly 300 trainees who are officials, civil servants, teachers and students in 5 mountainous districts in the province. Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen, a teacher at Son Trung Primary and Secondary School (Son Ha) shared that because she did not know the Hre language, sometimes she could not fully grasp the thoughts and aspirations of the students. Through the training course on the electronic database of ethnic minority languages, I learned how to use the software on the phone application to look up the Hre language and can learn to pronounce the Hre language by myself anytime, anywhere, saving a lot of time. From there, the interaction and communication between teachers and students became closer and more intimate.

QR code to download the electronic database application of ethnic minority languages ​​Viet - Hre, Viet - Co. Photo: MY DUYEN

Director of the Department of Construction, former Head of the Provincial Ethnic Minorities Committee Tran Van Man (co-project leader) commented that through the electronic database of ethnic minority languages ​​of Viet - Hre, Viet - Co, the communication and language gap between Kinh and ethnic minority people has been narrowed, contributing to effectively supporting the ethnic minority community in the process of learning and practicing Vietnamese, improving knowledge, accessing information in the fields of economics - society, law, national defense - security... In addition, it helps Kinh officials working in ethnic minority areas to understand and communicate more easily, thereby conveying the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws to ethnic minority people, as well as absorbing the experiences and issues of ethnic minority people more effectively.

PH.DUNG - MY DUYEN

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Source: https://baoquangngai.vn/xa-hoi/202410/bao-ton-tieng-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-f791b7b/