For Albert Haskie, the Diné language was prevalent in his childhood at the Lukachukai Community School; he didn’t know that there was any other language taught at schools.
“My entire life at that point I thought everyone in the world was learning about Navajo,” Haskie said.
Haskie is now helping develop an app to help anyone learn the Navajo language.
The development of the Diné Bizaad app took a total of two years, according to Haskie, who led an Indigenous team that involved cultural advising and coding. That team will be highlighted at the official launch of the app on May 16 at the Tuba City E-Ship Hub.
After launching the Navajo clan app, Adoone’é, Haskie said the idea of the Navajo dictionary started to take shape.
“I didn’t touch the verbs. I didn’t touch the dictionary at all. I ended up going for conversions,” he said. “Can I have the app tell me numbers without having to actually type out every single number? Can I write an algorithm that can do that for me? And if I can do that, then that would be really cool.”
The algorithm proved successful for time, dates and money. Haskie said he approached the language from a math perspective building components through the verbs and tenses.
That led to the inclusion of quizzes on the app while software developer, Jordan Goldtooth, took inspiration from other language apps to brainstorm with Haskie on what should be offered on the app.
However with apps like Duolingo, Goldtooth said she found flaws with how it defined a singular way of the Navajo language.
“That’s the thing with Navajo. The reservation is very large and someone from one point says something different than another point but they mean the same thing,” she said. “I think what’s important that Diné Bizaad is built by Navajos because we know those complexities.”
The importance of bringing an app to Navajo users by Navajos was one aspect Haskie said he really stressed to the team.
There is a sense of trust from users in being Navajo, he said.
“When it’s made for Navajo, you feel it,” he said.
In working with graphic designer, Britteny Gene, on the app logo Haskie said protection was a theme in choosing the horned toad, known as cheii in the Navajo culture, as the main image.
“When you’re using the words I feel like your protecting yourself, you’re learning about your language,” he said. “You’re protecting your future generations.”
Cultural adviser, Miranda Haskie, was an interesting beta tester, according to Haskie, because she held a certain level of knowledge of the language to help understand how users might be like minded.
“She was very knowledgeable to the verb system and so I had to test it with her and she was a great advocate for that just double checking everything that we’ve been doing,” Haskie said.
When it came to fact-checking the words and spelling used in the app, Haskie said everyone will not be satisfied at the end of the day, but including as much as possible was the solution to that.
Haskie said he also remembers his great grandfather who had been involved in building the Navajo Bible that might have faced criticism for providing the language.
“I try to understand why he did that but also he was thinking generations beyond,” he said. “That paved the way for digitization to occur I would say – I hope that this does the same for future generations.”