For Indigenous oral societies, words hold knowledge amassed for millennia. 2017, [5] The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Hawaiian is also an official language in Hawaii along with English. During the era of residential schools, it is estimated 150,000 children were removed from their families and communities and placed in residential schools. “Losing a language is a major setback for everyone, because along with the language, you will also lose all of the poems, the stories, the songs. Together we will build a foundation of knowledge that will be shared within the community to support family language revitalization efforts in the home. Language is the foundation of a culture. © 2020 Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. Well, it’s not entirely due to the encroachment of the digital world. Educating yourself on Indigenous people, the importance of their languages, and supporting their revitalization efforts, are just some of many ways you can help with the revitalization of Indigenous languages. Here in Canada, a week after the Year of Indigenous Languages was launched, the federal government tabled the, Did you know, that during the debate on the. For Indigenous oral societies, words hold knowledge amassed for millennia. The House of Commons now offers simultaneous translation in Plains Cree, Dene, Mohawk, and Eastern Cree. Let this blog be your guide to Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples®. Lesson Overview Students watch a film about a Native American woman, Marie Wilcox, who is the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni. included #14 for an Aboriginal languages act, and #15 is for an Aboriginal languages commissioner. As accessibility to the digital world expands, so too will the spread of English as a second language. The Inuit Language Protection Act, passed in 2008, aims to increase the number of speakers, and revitalize and protect the Inuit language. For example, the use of English as an international language can have wide-ranging implications for the world's societies. Is anything being done to protect Indigenous languages?Nunavut, which has three official languages: the Inuit language (Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun), English and French, is the only territory with a language protection act. All over the world people are researching and finding ways to revitalize and preserve Indigenous languages. Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples®, Indigenous Employment: Recruitment & Retention, Working with the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples® Blog, Indigenous Corporate Training Inc.2300-2850 Shaughnessy StreetPort Coquitlam, BCV3C 6K5, What You Need To Know About Indigenous Language Revitalization. All of that. This led to languages only having a handful of individuals who could speak the languages in many cases. A language also holds the stories, songs, dances, protocols, family histories and connections. Land revitalization is important because it returns land to productive use, restores blighted properties, can be linked to local job opportunities, creates recreational opportunities, energizes neighborhoods, and protects the environment. Indigenous languages flourish in the North, mostly due to the remoteness of the communities. Every two weeks a language dies with its last speaker, 50 to 90 per cent of them are predicted to disappear by the next century.” [1], As for Indigenous languages in Canada, some are thriving whereas others, such as Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca are on the brink of extinction. What can you do to help?Vocalize your support for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to action for language by reading the Indigenous Languages Act and staying abreast on the response to the Act. Here’s a short video on the discussion in 2018 about including Indigenous languages during House of Commons proceedings: Circling back to the advancement of the digital world having an impact on Indigenous languages, the digital world may also play an important role in saving languages. iv. The diversity in languages, however, is declining. Each language that dies equals the loss of a cultural treasure. Click the image to grab your copy. All of that knowledge, held in the language, is an invaluable source of information about the history of the natural environment, climate, plants, and animals. iii. Sadly, our language has reached such a critical point that we must make this kind of investment a priority in order to keep it alive. It’s not just a set of words. Language revitalization is widely recognized as an essential aspect of strengthening Native nations across Turtle Island. Language revitalization refers to the efforts of a people or community to create language-learning programs and services to keep their language alive and flourishing. For some, there are more immediate matters like health care and housing to worry about while for others, language is central to healing our communities. Some argue for a distinction between language revival (the resurrection of a dead language with no existing native … Reviving their languages is the key to a decolonized future, where Indigenous societies maintain sovereignty and their cultures flourish. Readers looking for more detailed information, or who have questions, can sign up for our fee-for-service training. Are Indigenous Peoples supportive of the Act? • Why is Indigenous language revitalization important? Language revitalization, also referred to as language revival or reversing language shift, is an attempt to halt or reverse the decline of a language or to revive an extinct one. Similarly, for language revival efforts to be successful, children need to feel that it is "their" indigenous language and that speaking the language makes them a member of an important and worthwhile group. It is an irretrievable body of knowledge. Revitalization and preservation of Indigenous languages has many positive effects for the survival of endangered languages and for the people who speak them. For example, Hinton 2011 is just one of several chapters in Austin and Sallabank 2011 in which responses to language endangerment are discussed. And when they had children of their own, they frequently did not teach or encourage them to speak their home language, in part because their fluency had been impacted, in part because they feared their children would suffer the same punishment, and in part because they believed their children needed fluency in the dominant language. While it may seem like only a handful of languages are used around the world, the reality is that a vast number are spoken by people in different countries and cultures. According to Wells, the goal is to create a society of fluent speakers to bring back the natural order of parents passing on their language to their children. territories.Our! 2017, [4] Benefits of Indigenous Language Learning, All Things Linguistic, 22 Mar. For our second fund drive blog post I wanted to continue talking about the impact and importance of technology in language revitalization. And those things are of immense importance to all of us as human beings.” —Anthony Aristar “The language, the whole culture of … Why Is It Important To Protect & Revitalize Indigenous Languages? Also, ICT encourages everyone who reads this information to use their best judgment given their own circumstances, vulnerabilities, and needs, and to contact a consulting or legal professional if you have more specific questions. Language plays a significant role in the development of Indigenous culture. In Canada, some of these efforts include dictionaries, electronic device apps such as Ojibway People and Language App which contains more than 200 Ojibway words and phrases and recorded pronunciations. Circling back to the advancement of the digital world having an impact on Indigenous languages, the digital world may also play an important role in saving languages. Languages also often hold the community’s customary laws that were eroded by the policies of the Indian Act. But, due to an increasing awareness of Indigenous people and the importance of their culture and language in Canada, Indigenous language revitalization efforts are being made to keep these languages alive. and! Join the conversation over on our Linkedin page. As many communities move towards a return to self-government, this loss of laws and systems of governance means some communities don’t have that knowledge to draw upon. About wintranslation:An award-winning translation service provider based in North America, wintranslation has a nineteen-year track record in managing complex multimedia and large-scale projects on time and on budget. For seven years, she created a dictionary in order to keep her language and culture alive. 21 Apr. 2017, [2] Benefits of Indigenous Language Learning,  All Things Linguistic, 22 Mar. Many Indigenous languages are endangered globally and the rate of loss is estimated at one language every two weeks. One of the key mandates of residential schools in Canada was to prevent their students from speaking their native language. This may include capacity-building efforts that focus on language sustainability and revitalization approaches, determining the linguistic situation of the community, and gathering other language resources. A language also holds the stories, songs, dances, protocols, family histories and connections. This research points out to the fact that language can be used as a tool to preserve Indigenous cultures. But English is the most commonly spoken second language in the world and is the most common language used on the internet. Under the Act, Inuit have the right to work for the Government of Nunavut in their own language, municipalities must offer services in the Inuit language, and private businesses are required to display Inuit text as prominently as English and French. Indigenous Peoples have been observing and talking about their environment since time immemorial. Happy reading! 14. their! It is the largest infusion of resources in the history of the Cherokee Nation to preserve and revitalize the Cherokee language. An analysis of some of the many reasons why we, as linguists, should attempt to revive and revitalise languages. place! Reconciliation, Across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Plains Cree is the main language with some Western Ojibway, Dogrib, and Dene sprinkled in between. There are also research and learning centres such as the Oneida Language and Cultural Centre, which offers language courses and cultural events at a low cost. As accessibility to the digital world expands, so too will the spread of English as a second language. Furthermore, Indigenous students are increasingly attending school away from their territories and growing up learning the dominant and common language that is being used in their region, such as English and French. Indigenous Corporate Training Inc., provides information on this blog for free as a resource for those seeking information about Indigenous Peoples in Canada. 13. By: Kaemon Kennedy The Ojibwa language was historically, the language of the Great Lakes fur trade. Let this blog be your guide to Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples®. So, what is currently being done to help Indigenous language thrive? Aboriginal language rights are reinforced by the Treaties. When the children returned home for holidays, they were frequently too traumatized to converse in their language. Do they have concerns? “Between 1950 and 2010, 230 languages went extinct, according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. Individuals, linguists, and organizations are developing ways to celebrate, revitalize, and preserve Native languages and cultures. N.p., 16 Oct. 2014; Web. The Northwest Territories has eleven official languages, nine of which are Indigenous languages such as Chipewyan, Gwich’in, and Dogrib. Right now, there are only an estimated 2,000 first-language Cherokee speakers left. Here’s the full call to action on language:Language and culture. We offer translation into various local dialects of the Inuit, First Nations, and Métis peoples of Canada, as well as several languages and dialects of Native American tribes found in the United States. [1] Study: Indigenous Languages and Selected Vitality Indicators, 2011. Guest contributors:Amanda Pereira & Jillian Morgan, wintranslation. But English is the most commonly spoken second language in the world and is the most common language used on the internet. The root of the decline lies in the. Language and keyboard apps are being developed that help users learn common words and phrases. Links to my social media platforms are in the grey banner at the bottom of this page. [1] Nina Strochlic, The Race to Save the World's Disappearing Languages, [2] Nick Walker, Mapping Indigenous languages, Canadian Geographic, Dec 2017. We have hundreds of articles loaded with tips, suggestions, videos, and free eBooks for you. Vocalize your support for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to action for language by reading the. To… ? There are over sixty different [1] Indigenous languages that are currently spoken in Canada. Of the most spoken languages in the world, English is the third after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. The Ojibwe could pursue the same goals in Minnesota. Many of Canada’s Indigenous languages, such as Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca, are estimated to have less than one hundred speakers. 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