A new dictionary to help deliver health care to Yolngu people of East Arnhem Land was launched in Darwin on September 7. Linguist Marilyn McLellan and Yolngu translator Yurranydjil Dhurrkay from the Elcho Island community of Galiwin'ku have produced a dictionary of 200 medical and anatomical terms in English and Yolngu Matha.
The dictionary has been produced and published by the Aboriginal Resource Development Services (ARDS), a not-for-profit organisation based in Nhulunbuy and Darwin.
For years, ARDS has worked on overcoming language and cultural barriers that Yolngu people face in their daily dealings with the mainstream world.
“English is not our first language so most people do not understand what is being said”, Dhurrkay told the launch. “For most people it brings fear to them and most people will try to understand it but not really fully understand everything.”
For many Yolngu people, English may be their third or fourth language.
McLellan said many concepts such as cells, DNA and bacteria had no place in Yolngu people's world view, so the dictionary explains these terms in culturally appropriate ways.
NT nurse Alice Mitchell said lack of information was an important factor in the territory's high rates of rheumatic heart disease, diabetes and kidney failure. She said: “What is diabetes? How does it affect your body? What do our kidneys do? How does the doctor know my kidneys are failing? I know that Indigenous people, whose second language is English, simply do not have this information so they cannot make informed choices.”
ARDS was recently awarded the Northern Territory Administrators Medal for Primary Health Care in recognition of its innovative work in health education.