The Language

Aanii miinwaa! Gegpii naa ngii-bi-pskaabiimi! Hi again! We have finally come back. Hosts Mskwaankwad and Miigwanaabiikwe (Jess) catch you all up on the last 2 years we have been away. It's nice to be back.

"How a person is known that will be a good Nishnaabe speaker." From the vaults of the year 2023, hosts Miigwanaabiikwe and Mskwaankwad talk about signs of a successful language learner. Stay tuned for more recent episodes coming soon. Kii-mesnigoom! We have missed you all!

We're back and we have some catching up to do! This time we are diving in to the mailbag to answer your listener letters. Today's episode title, Maajiibiignan ("maw jee beeg nun") means "letters." You can always send us an email to have your letter read aloud on the show, especially if you have a funny or embarrassing language learning story. 

Pretendians. Race shifting. We hear about these stories in the news where individuals with tenuous or untrue claims to Indigeneity have taken positions of power or prestige reserved for Indigenous people. Now we see this same issue happening in the language reclamation field. Today we sit down with Dr. Celeste Pedri-Spade to discuss the article her and colleague Dr. Sarah Shulist co-authored on this very topic, entitled "Lingua Nulls: Indigenous Language Learning and Revitalization as Sites for Settler-Colonial Violence." Our episode title, "Enishnaabewikaazjig" means "Those who pretend to be Anishinaabe." To read the aforementioned article, email us with the subject line Celeste, or click on the following link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OIWdQd-jzf-0q3bqoue8BITtw9vewK27/view?usp=sharing 

Ezhi-giizhweying ("eh-zhi geezh weh ying"), or how we speak, is one way we have decided to translate dialect. Although Anishinaabemowin is understood amongst different speakers across the territory, we do still have different dialects and ways of speaking our language. At the end of the day, speaking any dialect is better than none at all. To listen to Aakoziiwigamig: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/indigenous/indigenous-languages/aakoziiwigamig.html 

The episode where we talk about whatever, and share updates on where we've been and what we've been doing. Today's episode title, "Nbwaachwedaa" (pronounced "Bwotch wey daw") means "let's visit." We've missed you all! 

We discuss everything and anything language with Alan Corbiere (Ojiig) from M'Chigeeng First Nation. We hope you enjoy and learn as much as we did recording this podcast. 

"When we speak the language to each other at home" is the translation of today's episode. Host Mskwaankwad interviews Jess about her family's efforts to raise their 3 year old son in the language at home. Stay tuned for a special guest on the last 10 seconds!

Aan'kinootmaageng ("Awn ki note maw gang") is one way to say "translating" in the language. It's not as easy as it sounds, and there is no, one way to do so. Today we talk about the pitfalls of translating and how we work with and around them. 

Mskwaankwad talks us through his journey in the field of linguistics, including  its usefulness to Indigenous language revitalization, its pitfalls, and everything else in between.  Today's episode, "En'kamgak gchi-kinoomaage-gamgoong (En-kum-guck chi ki-no-maw-geh gum-gohng)" translates to "What happens in the big school (university)."

Greetings from immersion. We check in half way through the two week immersion program called Eshki-Nishnaabemjig and share our tired but grateful reflections. 

What makes a good immersion good? Today we talk about the successes of the Eshki-Nishnaabemjig Immersion Program and how to run immersion for grown ups. Eshki-Nishnaabemjig means new/young speakers of the language. 

Ezhi-nokiimgak Anishinaabemwin (How Anishinaabemwin Works). This is one way to say "grammar" in the language. Today we try to make a compelling case for how grammar study can drastically improve an adult learner's fluency and understanding. 

Negaabnigyaang wii-kinoomaagziyaang ezhi-Nishnaabemong, or "What stops us from learning how to speak the language." In this episode, Jessica and Mskwaankwad talk about obstacles and barriers that hold us back from learning. Getting started can be tough, and we hope that talking about it is helpful to those that need the extra encouragement. You can do it!

It was just one year ago today, on May 27th, 2021, when Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced to the world that they had uncovered 215 children's graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, hundreds of other unmarked graves have come to light. We take this opportunity to reflect and share on what this means to us at The Language podcast. The Indian Residential School Survivors and Family hotline is available 24/7 and can be reached at 1-800-721-0066. For those interested in applying to Eshki-Nishnaabemjig Immersion, email eshki.nishnaabemjig@gmail.com or look them up on facebook: @eshki.nishnaabemjig

The Language is a podcast dedicated to the revitalization of Anishinaabemowin. Our language urgently needs you to learn it and it is our hopes that we will recruit some new learners with this show. For this inaugural episode, hosts Jessica Miigwanaabiikwe Shonias and Mskwaankwad Menoomnii introduce themselves and share their language learning journeys that have gotten them to this point today.