Help Revitalize Native American languages!
Your help is urgently needed to save and revitalize Native American languages. Among the more than 300 original languages once spoken in the U.S. only 155-175 are spoken today. Scholars estimate that only 20 of these remaining indigenous languages are being widely transmitted to today's Native children. Fully 70 languages could vanish within the next 10 years without immediate and significant funding for tribal language programs.
The National Alliance to Save Native Languages, an intertribal leadership coalition says, "Native languages are national treasures that have served this nation in time of war, with the legendary service of Native code talkers, and they remain vital part of Native American culture and identity today. Notably, Native students who are fluent in both English and their Native language perform substantially better academically, including on national assessment tests, than Native students who have not gone through such a program."
Please sign our petition to Congress urging them to support funding for Native language programs in the FY 2009 Budget of the Administration for Native Americans, Dept. of Health and Human Services. With its historic passage of the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-394), Congress recognized the critical funding needs of Native language revitalization efforts. The FY 2008 budget included $2million in Esther Martinez Language Preservation Act funding; however several hundred tribes must compete for these 25-45 grants.
JOIN CULTURAL SURVIVAL AND THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO SAVE NATIVE LANGUAGES IN SENDING THE MESSAGE TO CONGRESS THAT REVITALIZING NATIVE LANGUAGES IS CRITICAL TO NATIVE CULTURAL IDENTITY, SPIRITUALITY AND SURVIVAL, AS WELL AS TO THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS OF NATIVE STUDENTS.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Honorable Congresswo/man [Name];
Among the more than 300 Native American languages once spoken in the U.S. only about 155-175 remain today, and fully 135 are only spoken by elders within Native American communities. This means only 20 languages are still being actively transmitted to younger generations. Scholars have estimated that within ten years over 70 of these languages will cease to exist. Tribal language revitalization programs urgently need a substantial increase in funding for the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act (P.L. 109-394).
Young Native Americans across the U.S. are demanding the right to learn the language of their ancestors to honor their cultural and spiritual beliefs and build healthy foundations for future generations of Native peoples.
The National Alliance to Save Native Languages, an intertribal leadership coalition says, %u201CNative languages are national treasures that have served this nation in time of war, with the legendary service of Native code talkers, and they remain a vital part of Native American culture and identity today. Furthermore, Native students who are fluent in both English and their Native language perform substantially better academically, including on national assessment tests.%u201D
I am writing you to urge you to support and increase funding for Native American language revitalization programs in the FY 2009 Budget as the $2million in aid allotted through in FY 2008 funded only 25-45 language grants through the Administration for Native Americans, which hundreds of tribes must compete to receive.
Please join the National Alliance to Save Native Languages and Cultural Survival in working to increase federal funding to a minimum of $10 million to keep Native American languages, our common national cultural heritage, from falling silent.
Thank you for your consideration
Respectfully,
{Your Name}
{Mailing Address}
Your help is urgently needed to save and revitalize Native American languages. Among the more than 300 original languages once spoken in the U.S. only 155-175 are spoken today. Scholars estimate that only 20 of these remaining indigenous languages are being widely transmitted to today's Native children. Fully 70 languages could vanish within the next 10 years without immediate and significant funding for tribal language programs.
The National Alliance to Save Native Languages, an intertribal leadership coalition says, "Native languages are national treasures that have served this nation in time of war, with the legendary service of Native code talkers, and they remain vital part of Native American culture and identity today. Notably, Native students who are fluent in both English and their Native language perform substantially better academically, including on national assessment tests, than Native students who have not gone through such a program."
Please sign our petition to Congress urging them to support funding for Native language programs in the FY 2009 Budget of the Administration for Native Americans, Dept. of Health and Human Services. With its historic passage of the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-394), Congress recognized the critical funding needs of Native language revitalization efforts. The FY 2008 budget included $2million in Esther Martinez Language Preservation Act funding; however several hundred tribes must compete for these 25-45 grants.
JOIN CULTURAL SURVIVAL AND THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO SAVE NATIVE LANGUAGES IN SENDING THE MESSAGE TO CONGRESS THAT REVITALIZING NATIVE LANGUAGES IS CRITICAL TO NATIVE CULTURAL IDENTITY, SPIRITUALITY AND SURVIVAL, AS WELL AS TO THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS OF NATIVE STUDENTS.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Honorable Congresswo/man [Name];
Among the more than 300 Native American languages once spoken in the U.S. only about 155-175 remain today, and fully 135 are only spoken by elders within Native American communities. This means only 20 languages are still being actively transmitted to younger generations. Scholars have estimated that within ten years over 70 of these languages will cease to exist. Tribal language revitalization programs urgently need a substantial increase in funding for the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act (P.L. 109-394).
Young Native Americans across the U.S. are demanding the right to learn the language of their ancestors to honor their cultural and spiritual beliefs and build healthy foundations for future generations of Native peoples.
The National Alliance to Save Native Languages, an intertribal leadership coalition says, %u201CNative languages are national treasures that have served this nation in time of war, with the legendary service of Native code talkers, and they remain a vital part of Native American culture and identity today. Furthermore, Native students who are fluent in both English and their Native language perform substantially better academically, including on national assessment tests.%u201D
I am writing you to urge you to support and increase funding for Native American language revitalization programs in the FY 2009 Budget as the $2million in aid allotted through in FY 2008 funded only 25-45 language grants through the Administration for Native Americans, which hundreds of tribes must compete to receive.
Please join the National Alliance to Save Native Languages and Cultural Survival in working to increase federal funding to a minimum of $10 million to keep Native American languages, our common national cultural heritage, from falling silent.
Thank you for your consideration
Respectfully,
{Your Name}
{Mailing Address}
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Honorable Congresswo/man [Name];
Among the more than 300 Native American languages once spoken in the U.S. only about 155-175 remain today, and fully 135 are only spoken by elders within Native American communities. This means only 20 languages are still being actively transmitted to younger generations. Scholars have estimated that within ten years over 70 of these languages will cease to exist. Tribal language revitalization programs urgently need a substantial increase in funding for the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act (P.L. 109-394).
Young Native Americans across the U.S. are demanding the right to learn the language of their ancestors to honor their cultural and spiritual beliefs and build healthy foundations for future generations of Native peoples.
The National Alliance to Save Native Languages, an intertribal leadership coalition says, %u201CNative languages are national treasures that have served this nation in time of war, with the legendary service of Native code talkers, and they remain a vital part of Native American culture and identity today. Furthermore, Native students who are fluent in both English and their Native language perform substantially better academically, including on national assessment tests.%u201D
I am writing you to urge you to support and increase funding for Native American language revitalization programs in the FY 2009 Budget as the $2million in aid allotted through in FY 2008 funded only 25-45 language grants through the Administration for Native Americans, which hundreds of tribes must compete to receive.
Please join the National Alliance to Save Native Languages and Cultural Survival in working to increase federal funding to a minimum of $10 million to keep Native American languages, our common national cultural heritage, from falling silent.
Thank you for your consideration
Respectfully,
{Your Name}
{Mailing Address}
|
Already a Care2 member? log in |
Please help preserve the culture of the original american!!!
When a language dies part of that culture dies. Our Native American culture is part of what sets the U.S.A. apart as a nation. If the native tongues die America will loose a valuable treasure.
The Restored Taino Nation of the Antilles is working to fully restore its native language. Please support their efforts. http://tainonationnews.blogspot.com/ and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Official_Taino_Nation_News/
I'm not a Native American, but I believe heritage is very important. We need to keep things alive before all is forgotten.
What is needed to halt the dying of languages is not just language "archiving and preservation", but early and intensive education interventions that support young people in particular to learn (re-learn) native languages and to reach a competent rather than just basic command. Costly,but worth it!
Our language is such a vital part of our mind, body, heart and spirit. My mother was punished as a child while attending school and as a result would not teach us our language. She did not want her children to suffer as she did and now our generation as elders will fight for the right of our children to learn their language and once more be able to pass it on to the next generation.
America is a country full of rich cultures, it is what defines us as a nation. We should do all we can to protect and promote these cultures for without them what do we really have?
What do we have left if we don't have our language?
Language is a vital part of history and provides the foundation for understanding past civilizations and cultures. If languages are lost, that important link to our history could be lost forever.
A language is more than groups of words; it is a way of thinking, a world view, descriptive emotional reckonings to identity, place and landscape. A language is local knowledge and history. If the Indigenous Languages of the Americas are lost then we all lose.
We must do all we can to help these native languages survive. To let anyone of them die diminishes us all.
as a student of my own native language i have learned how vitally important this subject is to me and my family please support this initiative.
There is little left of my natural ancesteral history please dont let what is fundamentally left die out.
My children attend a Language Immersion Charter School and we are struggling to keep fluent speakers in our classrooms. Children who are bi-lingual go further!!!
|
12:11 pm PDT, Sep 23,
Animalspirit Martz, Indiana
|
I am Tsalagi,(Cherokee) and only know a few words myself.We have the right to speak our own language and have it offered to us in schools or other institutions.Wado,Kricketwoman
I think that schools should make you learn at lest 3 languages in primary. Of course it'll be hard, but instead of the flute, make children learn something they will use once older! I hate the flute, but I must learn it! Well, I think that we should have a choice for what we learn. Like for example: people who want to learn italian go in this class while the others go in greek! But, french and english are obliged for both classes. It's as simple as that! And in high school, you learn spanish, obligated.
I have struggled to learn my fathers language, Muscogee, for years. I am not doing very well on my own, but I hope that grants and language preservation will still be available to tribes and person. I asked my father why he didn't teach us his langauage, he said he had forgotten so much. He attended boarding schools as a young child and he was not allowed to speek in his Native tongue. This is a sad truth and I would encourage you to help perserve Native American languages.
Support nader/gonzals for our constitutional rights, freedom for all!
www.votenader.org support constitutional rights
It is a shame that Natives have to resort to measures such as these but when you consider our parents and grandparents were punished for speaking their language while they were being forced to assimilate, it's no wonder.
Many Americans strongly feel that English should be the only language spoken in the United States. This however is not the case. We should respect and try to learn different languages, especially languages that preceded the European settlers like from Native Americans.
more languages!!
We must do whateever we need in order to save and revitalize Native American languages.
Any Indigeonous language is vital to the survival of each and every cultural group that is fighting for funds and interest in the help that is needed to keep our languages.Without our language our unique qualities as a Native People dies, and so does the future of our children and our grandchidren and generations to come.
Hello, I believe strongly on Native languages for our children and also for the people that have not had the opportunity to learn their own language. My mother is from the Navaho nation and my father is from the Carrier Nation. I would like to learn both languages. Traditionally we learn our mother's language. I only had learned the low German and english. Both of these languages were very difficult to learn , at the same time. Why is it that us Native children have to learn other languages first that our not even of interest or even help us in this country. I'm talking about this language that comes from Mexico. This is a language that comes from the Old order Mennonites from Mexico. I also had to learn to write and read in this language. This was to understand their culture,religion. It has been difficult to learn both languages at the same time. This German language has not helped me for my life as a Navaho. Thank You, Tina Loewen
Our languages are the backbone of our culture..without them, we will continue to forget who we are. This is so important and vital to maintaining our cultures for the next Seven generations
I am health care worker and work with people from many backgrounds. Peoples' cultural background definitely defines their attitudes and response to health and wellness issues. I have learned so much from individuals who are different from my ethnocentric background. Please let us not loose this indiviuduality which language is a big part. Thank you!
We all must ask the U.S. Government to put the same energy and resources into revitalizing Native American languages as they did in attempting to destroy them. We must ask them to understand the importance of language to an individuals identity and the strength of their culture. We must ask the U.S. Government to meet with people, like Gabriel Paul, ask them what they need to help revitalize their language, and provide it to them. Healthy individuals, rooted in a strong culture would benefit this country.
Native language are of unpayable value and source of deep knowledge. We have to protect them.
It is your duty and privilege as representative of the people of this country to protect, encourage, and strengthen our connections to our cultural and ethnic heritage. Every American citizen has a cultural heritage grounded in indiginous American traditions. By providing direct access via functional use of native languages you revitalize each citizen's potential to overcome the shadows of the past relationships between European colonizers and indiginous Americans. We owe this to everyone who lives here now and to all the children who will be born native to this country in times to come.
Please help save our languages.
