Aitue Foundation Creates App to Learn Mapudungun, English, and Spanish

The Aitue Foundation has developed an innovative app for learning Mapudungun, English, and Spanish, with the goal of expanding knowledge of the Mapuche language.

It is a digital dictionary, available for free on Android and iOS systems, with more than 1,100 words translated into the three languages, accompanied by photographs and audio for phonetic practice. The content was developed and created by the Aitue Foundation’s cultural team, led by Mapuche linguist Necul Painemal.

“In a predominantly oral culture like the Mapuche, preserving the language contributes to preserving the culture, and we believe that with this app we can make a contribution,” said Nicolás Figari, Executive Director of the Aitue Foundation.

He added that “another objective is to contribute to the interculturality of our society. This is why we believe that with the digital dictionary we will be able to reach a large number of people who may not have any connection to the Mapuche people, and in this way break down certain existing stigmas.”

For his part, the President of the Aitue Foundation, Lorenzo Dubois, emphasized that “We believe in interculturality as an essential value for the sustainable development of our society. As a Foundation, we actively collaborate in the protection and preservation of ancestral knowledge, which is the basis of the identity of Indigenous peoples.”

The application is available free of charge and aims to become an active reference tool in schools and kindergartens throughout the country.