Ngalimi bidagu yan.guwa furnace-di _Translating a sleeping language for a feature film
Channel: ICLDC YT
Date: 2021-05-04

In this presentation we explore the process of translating dialogue for a feature film into Badimaya, a sleeping language of Mid-West Western Australia. This was a collaborative project between the Badimaya community, the Bundiyarra – Irra Wangga Language Centre and the filmmakers of the The Furnace. It involved extensive community consultation, a collaborative translation process between community members and linguists, and language coaching for the actors whose role involved speaking Badimaya. Essential to this process was the consideration of who has the authority to speak for the language (i.e. the language community, the owners of the language), and who has the knowledge to speak about the language (i.e. language specialists and linguists who have structural and linguistic knowledge of the language). In this presentation, we focus on this vital role of the language centre as an ‘enabler’ for community-guided collaboration. We believe this provides a best-practice model for how people outside of a language community can work productively and sustainably with that community, especially in delicate language situations like that addressed here.

Presenters: Jacqui Cook, Roderick Mackay, Godfrey Simpson, James Bednall and Rosie Sitorus