Learning Guna on the Radio
When we talk about remote or distance learning, we often think of things like Zoom meetings, recorded lectures or Canvas assignments, but a group of teachers from Panama’s Indigenous Guna community is adding another...
UN Launches Ten-Year ‘Survival Plan’ for Endangered Languages
In a landmark move before the close of 2022, the United Nations finally launched what it calls the International Decade of Indigenous Languages—a ten-year “survival plan” to protect global Indigenous languages from extinction, in...
TIFF premiere: Sgaawaay K’uuna, the first feature film about the Haida people
By Leonie Sandercock Professor, University of British Columbia Originally published on The Conversation.
Sgaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife), premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, is the first feature film about the Haida people...
Learn Indigenous Languages through ASMR
Native Montreal Youth Council has launched Indigenous Whispers in response to COVID-19 isolation. Inspired by the concept of ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), the group aims to reach out to their community with content...
World Leaders Learn from Native Languages
World leaders at the COP26 climate summit in Scotland have been urged to shift their thinking about the climate crisis to focus on humanity’s integration with and dependency on the natural world—through an art...
NSW Australia Passes First Aboriginal Languages Bill
New South Wales (NSW) recently passed legislation that acknowledges the value of indigenous language, and the importance it holds to the country’s First Peoples and to the cultural heritage of NSW. The legislation is a...
Scholar Self-Immolates Over Language Extinction
An academic activist, Albert Razin, died in Russia after setting himself on fire in a political protest about government policy surrounding his native Udmurt language. According to the Moscow Times, the man self-immolated outside...
Study Sheds Light on Passive Language Acquisition
According to a new study published in Scientific Reports, New Zealanders acquire a sort of passive understanding of Māori phonology and phonotactics, despite actively speaking little to none of the language. “Most New Zealanders...
Indigenous Taíno of Puerto Rico Take Their Fight to the UN
Puerto Rican Taíno representatives recently attended the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in New York to call attention to their situation.“If we’re not getting visibility or any kind of recognition at...
Programs will help preserve Native languages, strengthen Native communities
As part of his ongoing efforts to help preserve Native languages, U.S. Senator Jon Tester recently secured grants worth over half a million dollars.
The grants, administered by the Department of Health and Human Services,...