I love my language! - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

I’m Neil.

And I’m Sam.

Last weekend I was driving from London to

Anglesey in Wales when

I saw a road sign written in two

languages. It said, ‘Welcome

to Wales’ in English, and below that,

it said ‘Croeso I Gymru’ in Welsh.

Yes, Welsh is spoken by many

people in north Wales. It’s the

indigenous language – the language

spoken by the people who originally

lived in a place, rather than by others

who moved there from

somewhere else.

Welsh is a good example of an

indigenous language that has survived.

Some children speak Welsh

in school and the local government

has encouraged its spread.

But not all indigenous languages

have been so lucky, as we’ll be finding

out in this programme.

Of course, languages are more

than just words – they carry

people’s history, culture, and identity. So,

when an indigenous language

disappears so too

does the culture.

Yes, the dominance of international

languages, including English,

has endangered other less-spoken

languages. So, here’s my

quiz question, Sam. Did you know

that nearly 7,000 different languages

are spoken around the world?

But how many of these are indigenous?

Is it: a) 3,000?

b) 4,000? or c) 5,000?

Hmmm, I’ll say b) 4,000 languages.

Ok, Sam, we’ll find out the answer

at the end of the programme.

One indigenous language speaker is

Mshkogaabwid Kwe. She’s from Canada,

or ‘Turtle Island’ as it’s called

by her tribe.

She grew up speaking English

instead of her native language,

Anishinaabemowin, which she

only learned later,

as an adult.

Listen to Mshkogaabwid speaking

with BBC World Service programme,

The Conversation, about how

she felt learning Anishinaabemowin

later in life.

When I realised that the sounds that

were coming out of my mouth were the

same sounds that had come out of my

ancestors’ mouths thousands of years

ago I felt a deep sense of who

I was and what it means to be

Anishinaabemowbec and it

made me realise that my

dream of learning this language

and passing it on to my

children was now accessible,

was now reachable, attainable.

And, you know, after a couple of

months, I was able to understand

one full prayer that was said

at a ceremony feast and the

glee in me and the feeling of

joy at being able to understand

something in my own language,

it was the most profound

sense of confidence.

Learning to speak the language

of her ancestors gave

Mshkogaabwid glee – a

feeling of happiness, pleasure, or

excitement.

Although she didn’t grow up speaking

Anishinaabemowin she now wants to

pass it on to her children. To pass

something on means to give it to

someone, usually in your family,

who lives on after you die.

Mshkogaabwid’s decision to

raise her children speaking

Anishinaabemowin turned out to

be the right one, as she explained

to BBC World Service programme,

The Conversation.

There are lots of bumps in the

road but it’s going very well.

My daughter is turning four and

she completely understands

the language. Being put back

into day care, which she’s

only been there maybe a month,

has really influences her

English… so I notice she’s

speaking a lot of English

and so that was a little bit

rough for the family being

an immersion home where we

only speak Anishinaabemowin

when in the home, for there

to be so much English, and

only recently, over the last

week and a half, have we

really noticed her switch

and her shift back into

using the language.

Bringing up her children to

speak her indigenous language

wasn’t easy and Mshkogaabwid

says there were some bumps in the road -

small problems or delays

that slowed down or

stopped things from developing.

To help, her family spoke only

Anishinaabemowin at home, using a

technique called immersion - the

process of learning a language

or skill by using only that

and nothing else.

This meant that Mshkogaabwid’s

children spoke both English - at school

and Anishinaabemowin - at home. She

noticed how they changed between

languages when speaking, something

known as code-switching.

Mshkogaabwid believes this not only

helps her children’s development but

also gives them a sense of family

history, as well as preserving her

traditional culture...

…a culture she hopes they

will pass on to their children in turn.

So while indigenous cultures are

threatened by big global languages,

there’s still hope that many

will survive into the future.

Which reminds me of your

quiz question, Neil.

Was my answer, right?

Ah yes, I asked Sam how many of the

7,000 languages spoken around the

world are indigenous.

And I thought it was b) 4,000 languages.

Which was the correct answer! And

what’s amazing is that although

indigenous peoples make up under 6%

of the global population, they speak

more than 4,000 of the world's

languages.

OK, Neil, let’s recap the vocabulary from

this programme on indigenous

languages – languages spoken by the

people who originally lived in a place

rather than others who came later.

Glee is a feeling of happiness

or excitement.

If you pass something on, you give it to

someone, usually in your family, who

lives on after you.

A bump in the road is asmall problem or

delay that slows things down.

Immersion is the process of learning

something, like a language or a skill, by

using only that and nothing else.

And finally, code-switching is the ability to

change between two or more languages

when speaking.

That’s all from us.

Bye for now!

Bye bye!