Saving their mother tongue (fwd link)

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Saving their mother tongue

Jennifer Pritchett
Published Thursday March 18th, 2010
Canada

Gloria Sappier teaches Maliseet immersion to a kindergarten class on
the Tobique First Nation. Here she says a body part in Maliseet and
the children show her what she said. The old school closed down due to
mould.

With only about 10 per cent of Tobique's 1,600 residents fluent in the
Maliseet language, the former school principal says it is hard to find
speakers with whom to converse in his mother tongue.

"I go around my community speaking my language and people don't
understand me," he says. "It's like I'm speaking Chinese "¦ now that's
sad."

The soft-spoken Maliseet man said those who are fluent in the language
in Tobique are all typically older than 50. Some age 40 and older
understand it, but can't speak it. Those younger than 40 don't
understand it.

Nicholas says if that trend doesn't change, the language spoken by
Maliseets will become extinct, and a handful of studies support his
concern.

Access full article below:
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/988181