Inuit language conference an English-only event (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

August 26, 2005

Inuit language conference an English-only event
Dialects pose barrier to common understanding by delegates

SARA MINOGUE
http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50826_08.html

photo inset - "Language is a part of our culture," said Ivaaq C.
Poulsen, who traveled from Greenland for a meeting of the Inuit
Circumpolar Youth Conference held in Iqaluit this week. "We have this
ability as Inuit to open a door to get guidance from spirits." (PHOTO
BY SARA MINOGUE)

When delegates to an international youth conference on Inuit languages
met in Iqaluit last week, they were unable to conduct any of their
working sessions in their native tongue or dialects.

Instead, the group of about 20 youth and elders at the Inuit Circumpolar
Youth Council's first symposium on Inuit languages found they had to
speak English to be understood by everyone.

Although many of the delegates from Greenland, Russia, Alaska and Canada
could speak their native tongue, it was often difficult for others at
the conference, held in Iqaluit's Legislative Assembly, to understand
each other's dialects.

That's just one of the obstacles for young Inuit who want to see their
languages revived.

The Government of Nunavut, for example, says it will make Inuktitut its
working language by 2020, but it lacks a comprehensive strategy to make
this happen.

In Alaska, as well as in Canada, delegates learned, there are few
Inuktitut speaking teachers, and the ones that are produced are often
poached by government departments seeking bilingual staffers.

There are other problems, such as a shortage of materials for people
learning an Inuit language, or studying academic subjects in their
native languages. When there are materials, the standards are often not
as high, and there are fewer steps in the editing process than one might
find in English textbooks.

Young people who can speak their language feel the weight of the
responsibility this brings, and an urgent need to impress the
importance of speaking Inuit languages upon their peers.

One way they hope to do that is to make Inuit languages "cool" said
Miali-Elise Coley, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Youth Council, in her
opening speech at the symposium, which she offered in Inuktitut and
English.

For that reason, delegates at the symposium worked on a "hipification"
strategy report, coming out in February 2006.

During an opening session of the symposium, delegates explained - often
in a language incomprehensible to others, why they were there.

"Language is a part of our culture," said Greenlander Ivaaq C. Poulsen
when asked why it was important for him to be at the conference. "We
have this ability as Inuit to open a door to get guidance from
spirits."

"I wish being at home was more like this," said Qaiyaan Harcharek, who
traveled from Alaska to attend the three-day event. "Hearing young
people speaking Inuktitut."