Something just occured to me. I always wonder whether these occurances are profound and revolutionary or just obvious to everyone except me. You tell me. In conversing with a co-worker (in English) it occured to me that the reason our Indigenous languages are on the verge of extinction is because they are no longer useful.
As proud as we like to act about being Indigenous, we really are much more assimilated than we care to admit and well, speaking our languages is not that important. I believe that precisely because we have become so assimilated, we have in effect, de-prioritized the learning of our Indigenous languages. And despite a mild undercurrent of desire to hold on or regain some of what we have lost culturally, we will not act to save our languages until we change the way we live.
Our way of life determines what is most important to us. Our current daily lives are not conducive to learning Indigenous languages and culture. The answer: Change our current daily lives. Be Indigenous. It is that simple and hard at the same time.
W
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