'Language House' driven by
youth determined to revive dying language
A
trio of 20-somethings is carving pot roast, in a typical-looking
kitchen in a typical-looking apartment in North Vancouver.
But conversation here is unlike anywhere else in the world.
"a stl'i7 u kwi stak_w?" asks Khelsilem, as he heaps
potatoes on a plate for his sister, Jaymyn La Valle.
"en stl'i7 kwi stak_w," replies Joshua Watts
pointing to a water glass.
Welcome to Language House: a do-it-yourself immersion experiment
driven by youth determined to learn and revive Sk_wx_wú7mesh
sníchim or in English the Skwomesh language. (The
7 represents a glottal stop or a slight pause.)
Skwomesh language 'endangered'
The
trio moved in together last autumn after the 25-year-old Khelsilem
(his traditional Skwomesh name) put a call out to his fellow Squamish
Nation members asking who would like to devote themselves to learning
their ancestral tongue by living with him in an immersion-like
setting, instead of attending a weekly class.
"You can take a French class in high school and get straight
As, but not be able to have a conversation in French," says
Khelsilem.
"In Language House, we ask: can you actually communicate?
You have to learn to communicate these things with each other in
the house, daily."
The Squamish Nation has a population of 4,000 members with a
vast traditional territory that ranges from North Vancouver to the
city of Squamish, 64 kilometres north of Vancouver.
But a 2014 report on the status of B.C. First Nations languages
listed Sk_wx_wú7mesh sníchim as "critically endangered,"
with only seven remaining fluent speakers.
"If we don't pull together and put in work, there aren't
going to be any speakers left. I don't want my language to die,"
says La Valle.
About five per cent of community members are considered language
learners. Their options for learning are limited to Skwomesh classes
in local elementary and high schools. There are also evening classes
for adult learners, which are university-accredited but sporadic.
The precarious nature of his community's language makes Khelsilem
question how effective classroom learning is.
"We're getting our ass kicked. You have language courses
getting funded pretty substantially for the last 20 to 30 years,
and they haven't made a dent in this issue. When it comes to language
revitalization, we need to have conversations about how we're actually
going to move the yardstick or get out of the game."
Crowd-funded language learning
A notable feature of Language House is that the young
residents didn't seek any government funding to start or run the
program.
"I didn't want to wait anymore," says Khelsilem. "If
you look at where language funding comes from and how often it dries
up because government priorities change, we get capped off at the
knees. I want to demonstrate that you can build a language program
without government funding."
The roommates share the $2,350 monthly rent for their three-bedroom
apartment.
"If our languages die and go extinct,
our ability to interpret our inherent rights and responsibilities
as indigenous people will be severely limited."
- Khelsilem,
founder of Language House |
Last fall, they raised $2,700, selling a Skwomesh language T-shirt
in a crowd-sourced online campaign. They used those donations to
buy dishes, cutlery, furniture and other household goods for Language
House.
Once settled into their new home, the trio started beginner
language lessons, taught by Khelsilem. La Valle, 23, had taken language
classes in school, but Watts, 20, only knew "baby talk"
and admits being nervous.
"I don't really know a whole lot of the language. Maybe
it's not gonna make a whole lot of sense, and I'm gonna talk funny,"
said Watts, who is of Nuu-chah-nuulth ancestry but grew up in Squamish.
"Learning the language is probably one of the most time-consuming
things you can do. But if you want to learn, you have to make the
commitment."
Carving out practice time is a challenge, as all three lead
busy lives. Khelsilem is a self-employed language and PR consultant;
Watts and Lavallee are both students in environmental sciences at
Simon Fraser University.
They try to set aside time twice a week to prepare and eat meals
together, during which Khelsilem leads conversations in Sk_wx_wú7mesh
sníchim. They also phone each other daily, practising set
conversations in the language.
Other language learners sometimes join them for social gatherings
specifically to speak Sk_wx_wú7mesh sníchim. They
also invite elders to drop by for talks.
"I live with people that I can actually share language
with, rather than learning the language at classes, then going home
and not being able to speak to anybody," says La Valle.
Dreaming of language academy
Khelsilem,
a semi-fluent speaker of Sk_wx_wú7mesh sníchim, began
learning from cassette tapes as a teenager. Once he became more
proficient, he launched an online language blog in 2011, designed
to reach and teach Squamish Nation members in any location with
his self-designed podcasts and YouTube videos.
The residents of Language House recently revitalized the blog to
promote their long-term dream: a Skwomesh Language Academy. It would
be a full-time Sk_wx_wú7mesh sníchim immersion program
for adult learners.
"If our languages die and go extinct, our ability to interpret
our inherent rights and responsibilities as indigenous people will
be severely limited," Khelsilem says.
The academy was inspired by immersion programs run by other
indigenous communities, such as successful efforts by fluent speakers
of Kanien'keha (Mohawk language) to run immersion programs in various
communities in Ontario, Quebec and New York state.
The trio hopes to launch the Skwomesh Language Academy in 2016,
funded by donations.
"With monthly donations that amount to a cup of coffee
a month
we could change the entire course of our language's
trajectory," says their website.
The
Skwomesh Language Academy
Our history is only one sentence deep into what will be an epic
poem of courage, vision, and gleeful smile that we protected what
is most dear to our hearts. Our people suffered huge losses of people
during the disease era, our grandparents and great-grandparents
were forcibly removed from their parents and grandparents lives
as children to be indoctrinated with Euro-Canadian values (and language
skills), and weve constantly put up a fight against the
lure of modernity that brings disruption of our Indigenous ways.
And there is another way to see our history.
http://squamishlanguage.com
Support
Skwomesh Language House
The Skwomesh Language Academy creates online practice exercises,
instructional videos, & private classes of the Skwomesh Language.
To learn our language through our online videos, make a donation
to our academy through our Patreon campaign. Every week, every month,
all the time we are creating language lessons, how to say videos,
and more.
http://squamishlanguage.com/blog/project/patreon/
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