“Purãga ara” means good morning in Nheengatu, a language originating from the Tupi linguistic family, but influenced by Portuguese. It was once the most spoken language in the Amazon and is still used by an estimated total of 6,000 to 30,000 Indigenous people and members of traditional riverside communities, mainly in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. There are now two apps available to help people learn this language. The first, Nheengatu App, was launched in 2021 with support from the Aldir Blanc Law and the Pará Department of Culture. Developed by systems analysis technology graduate Suellen Tobler Almeida as part of her master’s degree at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), the app contains exercises, images, audio, and songs. The second, announced this year, was requested by IBM and developed by computer engineer Tiago Fernandes Tavares and a group of students from the Institute of Education and Research (Insper). With no associated website yet, the application comprises translators, dictionaries, and spell checkers to facilitate the production of texts in the Indigenous language. In both cases, the developers presented preliminary versions to Indigenous volunteers, seeking feedback (Insper, February 18).
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