Speak My Language
please
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
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.
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.
