Hello, my name is Cathy Modeste-Short. I'm happy to be with you to talk about Indigenous languages.
One of our elders, the late Paul Baton, said "We are not supposed to lose our language. We have to preserve it and protect it. That is the way it should be." Another elder said to be careful to listen when people tell you something. Pay attention to the words. Watch the speaker's expression and their mouth so you can understand their meaning. They may be giving you words that must be remembered so you can use that knowledge in the future. It may save your life. Our language contains information in the wording about our land and animals. It brings us understanding.
I spoke only my Indigenous language until I started school, where we began to learn English words. We never lost our language because the entire community spoke it all of the time, and we didn't have television or personal phones. Now the community has a bigger challenge with teaching their children their Indigenous language because the television the children watch and the computer games they play are all in English. It is our responsibility to teach them our language. If we do not, they will be unable to teach their children. We must do our part to keep our language and our culture alive as it is truly a part of who we are.
It's a good thing to carry on in the words and teachings of our ancestors. It teaches us to be good people. One way they taught us was through stories. That was a big part of our entertainment. We would get very interested in a good story. Elders would tell us all kinds of stories and there would be hilarious exaggeration in it or a song. To have an elder pretending something ridiculous or acting silly was fun for us. The elders were so beautifully eloquent in their language. These stories can lose something in the translation to English. That's why they are better in Dene kede (Indigenous language).
One thing to keep in mind is that, as our language is seeing less use, we not only have to keep using and practicing our language. To be truly literate we have to be able to read and write it, so we can communicate with the written word or message. It is important to learn the spelling and the font. This takes a little practice also, but it is very useful.
In closing, I hope everyone will get involved in learning an Indigenous language.
How do you think this could be accomplished?
Here are a few practice phrases in the
Sahtúot’įnę dialect:
How are you? Negha dágǫ́ht'e?
I am good. Segha gonezǫ
It's hot. Gókó
What? Ayı́ı́ ?
Me Sı̨nę
You nıne
See! It's easy once you get started.
Mahsi cho for reading!
Dene Kedǝ hedetsı́tó (holding on to our language)
Keep practicing and don't give up!
-Cathy
