Speak My Language

please

Published on February 21, 2004 By crimson In Misc

I was reading through other people's blogs today, and came across JEPEL's latest, which is about the launching of his new blog, in his french language. It got me to thinking about the possibilities of me doing the same thing, in mine.

Well, I think the possibilities for me to do it, is virtually none. I have taken Ojibway in school, but like many other languages, if you do not converse consistently, you lose it. I was adopted into a non-Native family as an infant, and raised in a predominantly white/english culture, but my language is Ojibway. The sad thing about this is that like many other Aboriginal languages, the numbers of people who speak it is decreasing at an alarming rate. Pretty much from First Contact from the now-dominant culture, to the legacy of residential schools, to the adopting-out/sixties/seventies scoop implementation from the Children's Aid Society at the government's instigation, the numbers of my people without a constant cultural influence dwindled.

We are striving to reclaim our culture, but it is a slow, and difficult struggle, and our attempts at building our community in language is even harder. The problem is, we have lost a whole generation or two to the above mentioned happenings. The exact statistics are unknown to this author, but it is predicted within the next 10 years, the only speaking Aboriginal languages will dwindle down to 3. (Out of hundreds of different forms and dialects.)

I applaud JEPEL's decision to blog in his own language. Hopefully, someday, both my daughter and I will be able to do something similar in ours.

Comments

Suspeckted

on Feb 21, 2004

I am disappointed that I never grasped a second language. I can speak enough german, spanish, and sign language to tell people my name and ask where the bathroom is but that's about it. I took my first spanish class in college and good god, it's really hard to learn a language at that age.

I suppose it is frustrating to see your language falling from you. Language is such a key component of culture. I don't need to have mastered a second language to appreciate that.

JEPEL

on Feb 22, 2004

I think you should blog in your language because it is decresing, if you don't do, may be no one will. France have a lot of different sub languages, that get lost little by little, however after decade of submission by the french, those language start to have a little revival.

It became possible because the communities start to organise and make ressource available to other people. You should aim to do the same if you want your children to have the opportunities to speak their mother language.

Thanks for your applause, I wish you will blog in Ojibway.

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