First Nations chief from B.C. calls for urgent effort to save indigenous languages

A First Nations chief from British Columbia is calling for urgentefforts to revive indigenous languages, saying their extinction isgoing unnoticed while the world focuses on the preservation ofcultural heritage sites.

Edward John, a member of the U.N. Permanent Forum on IndigenousIssues, told a news conference that ancient wonders are importantbut indigenous languages are "the essential component of culturalheritage"and should get international attention andsupport toensure their survival.

John spoke Thursday at the end of a three-day meeting ofindigenous language experts at U.N. headquarters on revitalizingmany of the estimated 6,000 to 7,000 languages spoken by indigneouspeoples around the world.

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"The priority focus that I hear from all of the experts is,create fluent speakers," he said. "That's what you need to do. How do youdo it? That's the discussion taking place."

"There's been a large focus on literacy, developing books andcalendars and dictionaries" in indigenous languages, John said,"but not as much of an effort in fluency."

John pointed to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's address in May2011 to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues where he said:"Today, one indigenous language dies every two weeks. Indigenouscultures are threatened with extinction."

We know there are some languages where there are less than ahandful of speakers left, and when they're gone that language isgone everything about that culture and thatheritage is gone as well.- Edward John, grand chief of Tl'azt'enNation

What's needed urgently is a commitment from every government toidentify the indigenous languages in their country and the numberand age of speakers so that a global map of where they are can bedrawn up for the first time, he said.Then, the focus must be onrevitalizing those with fewer speakers and finding the resources tokeep languages frombecoming extinct.

"We know there are some languages where there are less than ahandful of speakers left, and when they're gone that language isgone and everything everything about that culture and thatheritage is gone as well," John said.

Tatjana Degai, an ethnic Itelman from Kamchatka on Russia'sPacific coast, said her people's language "is severelyendangered."

"There are only five elderly speakers left, all of them femalespeakers, about 70 years old," she said. "There are about 10 to 15middle-aged speakers who grew up hearing the language but don'tconsider themselves speakers."

Degai, who is trying to help keep the language alive, saidItelman is taught in only one school, and for just 40 minutesaweek.

"We appreciate that Russia is developing legislation in relationto indigenous language but we also think that it is not enough forour language to survive," she said.

Degai said Itelman is not the only language in trouble 40 ofthe 47 recognized indigenous peoples in Russia are from the north,Siberia and the Far East, and most of their languages "are at thebrink of extinction."

Amy Kalili, a native Hawaiin who heads an education organization promoting fluency in the Hawaiian language, said that in middle of the last century there were perhaps 30 speakers under the age of 18.But she said there was "acultural renaissance" in the late 1970sand early 1980s, and now schools are educating 3,000 students a yearin Hawaiian.

"People are passionate about not letting language die," Kalilisaid, and not just in Hawaii.

She said the Maoris in New Zealand not only get education intheir own language but they have government-funded Maori languageradio and television channels.

John, who is grand chief of the Tl'azt'en Nation in BritishColumbia, said he attended an Indianresidential schooland was banned from speaking Dene, a language also spokenin Alaska and the northwestern and southwestern United States by Native Americans.

He said smart phones and technology should become tools to help reach young people today their indigenous languages.

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Google sent an expert to this week's meeting, he said, and "wewill reach out to all willing partners to help us in this giganticeffort of revitalization."

John said recommendations from this week's meeting will bepresented to the Permanent Forum meeting in May, and then to theU.N. Economic and Social Council in July.