You Need To Listen To This Incredible ABC Podcast On Indigenous Languages

NAIDOC Week comes to an end on Sunday, but if you’re keen on respectfully engaging with Indigenous culture all year round (you should be), there’s a great podcast you should be listening to.

Produced by ABC Radio National, it’s called Word Up, and it covers Indigenous Australian languages one word at a time. Given that this year’s NAIDOC Week theme was Our Languages Matter, it’s an especially good time to get into it.

What do languages sound like one word at a time? Incredibly interesting, actually. The podcast delves into the surprising beauty captured by single words that frame the world in different ways. Take jalngay, a Bundjalung word meaning “reflecting the fire”, or yindyamarra, a Wiradjuri word for a way of living, which “speaks of gentleness, kindness, and learning to do things slowly”.

Each episode features an Indigenous person sharing a handful of words from their language, along with insights about what the word and language means to them. In doing so, Word Up flows easily into a case for the importance of language, and the vital need to teach Indigenous languages in schools.

Melinda Holden, a Taribelang, Gurang and Warrgamay woman, speaks in the episode below about the process of hiring a linguist to help assemble a word list and resources to make local languages accessible to Indigenous youth again.

So, if you’re interested in learning about any of the hundreds of Indigenous languages in Australia, head over to Word Up and have a listen. If there’s a particular word, language or area you’re interested in learning about, you can request it over at Radio National’s Facebook.

And if you’d like to learn about Australian Indigenous languages in more detail, or even just support their survival, consider seeking out local groups working to spread language education. If you’re in Sydney, Redfern’s Eora College offers classes on Bundjalung and Wiradjuri languages, and is a good place to start.