Design and development of e-Cham application indigenous languages in Vietnam

Abstract

Cham is the language of Cham people in Vietnam and the traditional Cham script is no longer taught in schools. Efforts to preserve the language has to be done, thus, the main purpose of this research is to explore the most preferable Cham script, and Cham Latin scripts to be preserved. The research was conducted to develop applications to preserve Cham script which will include Cham fonts, Cham font conversion tool and Cham electronic dictionary based on the preferred Cham script and Cham Latin. Besind the application produced for ease of use, convenience, and quality was evaluated by different respondent including religious group, university student, working people, and others. Two types of survey were implemented whereby religious group filled the questionnaire personally, and university students, working people and others did the online survey. A quantitative research method was employed to collect and analyse the research data. The findings revealed that almost all the respondents selected the traditional Cham script (Cham Akhar Thrah) and EFEO Cham Latin to be preserved. All of them stated that they agreed or strongly agreed that there is a need for application products to provide a Cham font, Cham font conversion and a Cham electronic dictionary. FontCreator software was used to develop Cham font, Visual Basic.NET was used to develop Cham electronic dictionary and JavaScript was used to develop Cham font conversion application. All of the application products were developed using the ADDIE model. In conclusion, these research results have shown that there is a need for the Cham community to conserve, preserve and promote the value of traditional Cham script in practice. Simultaneously, the application products will serve as useful tools that will contribute to the heritage and conservation of the Cham language and is the first application product for this purpose.