CLRP in the media
“2020 Vision” — UNT North Texan
September 25, 2020 — Back in March, Champlin was looking for ways to contribute her expertise to the COVID-19 pandemic… And then Shobhana Chelliah, associate dean and professor in UNT's Department of Linguistics, said the magic word: communication. That led to the two collaborating on a project -- along with Kelly Harper Berkson, an assistant professor of linguistics at Indiana University and Ken Van Bik, an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of California, Fullerton -- that aims to discover how to effectively communicate information about COVID-19 to refugees of Myanmar, who are members of the Chin language community. The research team, which recently received a National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research grant for the project, is preparing to gather feedback from the minority language community through interviews and narratives, which Chelliah will linguistically analyze. Ultimately, those translations will be given to Champlin's students, who will create visual materials for Chin speakers.
“It’s About More Than Translations, It’s About Building A Community” — IU Engaged Learning
May 12, 2020 — As the country continues to find ways to come together in support of each other during the COVID-19 outbreak, IU students are helping a community translate World Health Organization (WHO) fact sheets, answer FAQs, and debunk misinformation… The Chin community was receiving inaccurate information concerning what precautions to take against the virus. Suspecting that there was a need for reliable, accurate information in the community, Thang brainstormed with his fellow CLRP team members about finding a solution. They had been working on language materials related to the Census, but decided to pivot and began focusing on COVID-19 translation instead.
“Review: IU linguistics students translate Covid-19 materials” — Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
More than 25,000 Burmese refugees live in Indiana (19,000 in Indianapolis alone), and most do not speak or read English. With the health threat of COVID-19 affecting all Hoosiers, it is imperative that everyone in the state have access to reliable information, such as preventive measures. Since Governor Holcomb issued a stay-at-home order on March 23, many refugees have been left wondering what they are to do…
“IU Students Translate COVID-19 Materials for Indiana’s Burmese Community” — Indianapolis Monthly
April 30, 2020 — It’s hard enough to get reliable information about the coronavirus even when you have government guidance, but it’s nearly impossible to navigate filing for unemployment or applying for a small-business loan when you can’t read the application. Yet that’s reality for the nearly 19,000 Burmese refugees who live in Indianapolis—or, at least, it was, until the second week of March. That’s when a team of undergraduate and graduate linguistics students at Indiana University Bloomington began translating coronavirus FAQs and fact sheets…
“IU researchers translate coronavirus information into Chin language” — Indiana Daily Student
April 30, 2020 — Since the end of March, IU undergraduate and graduate linguistics researchers have been translating information about the coronavirus into Hakha Lai, a common language spoken by many from the Chin State of western Myanmar, IU assistant professor of linguistics Kelly Berkson said. The translations are available on the team’s website…
“IU Linguistics Students Translate COVID-19 Materials” — IU Office of the VP for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs
April 8, 2020 — As the COVID-19/Coronavirus outbreak continues to dominate the media, it is essential to have clear and accessible information on the disease. Many FAQs and fact sheets provided by organizations like the World Health Organization are available in a limited number of languages, however. On Monday, March 23, Governor Holcomb issued a Stay-At-Home order for Indiana, and his office posted a FAQ page only available in English, an example of how Hoosiers who cannot read English have difficulty accessing reliable information about the developing emergency…
“Introducing the Chin Languages Resource Project” — IU Linguistics Department Newsletter
Fall 2019 — Chin languages are under-studied (many entirely undocumented), exhibit numerous typologically rare properties, and are spoken by thousands of people an hour north of campus. It’s the kind of thing that leaves a speech scientist speechless… This reality led to the creation of The Chin Languages Resource Project, a developing collaboration between IU linguists and members of the Indianapolis Chin community… The opportunity to conduct fruitful linguistic research right here in our own backyard is invaluable, and the scholarly possibilities are myriad. Given the number of language-related needs in any refugee community, so too are the opportunities to be of practical use.