Yaama, and welcome to Garay Guwaala (Talk the Language).

Garay Guwaala is a set of resources to help you learn to speak Gamilaraay. It's based on Guwaalmiya Gamilaraay, a course that grew out of the Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay language revival work that has been happening since 1996. Guwaalmiya Gamilaraay is taught at the Koori Centre, University of Sydney, and sections have also been taught at TAFE as 'Certificate I in Gamilaraay'.

The learning program is organised into lessons, each of which contains sound files and written material. Used together, this material gives you the opportunity to learn some Gamilaraay by yourself. Ideally the lessons will be used in conjunction with a course in Gamilaraay as it is very difficult to check your own pronunciation. Also, the rules of Gamilaraay are very different to those of English and it takes a good knowledge of the language to produce correct Gamilaraay. 

Everyone involved in language revival is a learner, and all the people involved in making this material are learners. As with other GY materials they are the best we can do at the moment, given our current skills and knowledge of the language, so be prepared for parts to be replaced as the program is improved or as we learn more.

The text and sound files were produced by Priscilla Strasek and John Giacon, with Maureen Sulter, Suellyn Tighe and Clayton Blacklock also contributing to the audio component. The website design and implimentation was carried out by Bruderlin MacLean Publishing Services. We shall add new materials as time allows, but your comments are welcome: send an email to Priscilla or John to Priscilla or John.

Funding for the project was provided by the Australian Government's Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts through its ‘Maintenance of Indigenous Languages and Records’ program (and previous funding was provided by other departments that ran that program). Copyright in both text and sound files is held by theYuwaalaraay Language Program, based at the Catholic Schools Office, Armidale. It is available for individuals’ private use, but any institutions wishing to use the material (other than for a short trial) should contact the program care of John Giacon.

Maaru yanaya, bamba garay guwaaldaya. Go well, and keep talking the language.

John Giacon
August 2008