Why are some languages taught in schools, but not others?
Something I always find interesting is which languages get taught in schools in different countries. When I was in high school the options were Spanish, French, and German. This made sense to me. Spanish speaking countries were to our south, French-speaking Quebec was to our north, and English and German were related languages. During my senior year they started to offer Japanese. I know that Chinese has become popular as of late too. I reckon that these aren't for geographic purposes, but more because people believe they might be useful in a business setting.
When I moved to Hungary to teach at a high school, I assumed that besides English some of the languages spoken in neighboring countries (in this case German, Slovak, Ukrainian, Romanian, Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian) would possibly be taught in the schools. German was, and so was French. Finnish is fairly popular there as well, since Hungarian is related to it, but none of the geographically nearby languages were readily taught. I am aware that if you grew up in a town that had historically had a large Slovak population, like say Szarvas, where my great-great grandmother was from, then there are schools that teach Slovak, but if you were from a different town, then the opportunity simply wouldn't be there. I find this a little peculiar, since you would think that knowing the language of a neighboring country could be quite useful in social and business settings.
Of course, back in America I find it a little peculiar that German is still commonly taught, but Dutch isn't. After all, old New York was once New Amsterdam. Also, Dutch is much easier than German. But for whatever reason, there is simply not the demand for it. Where I live has a large Scandinavian background, yet Swedish and Danish aren't a part of any school curriculum that I'm aware of.
Learning Wampanoag for Thanksgiving
With it being Thanksgiving time, I also can't help but reflect on the "first" Thanksgiving where the Pilgrims and American Indians from the Massachusett tribe shared a meal together. It's become popular as of late to be critical of portrayals of Europeans' and Indians' interactions from this time period. Take the picture above. The pilgrims didn't actually dress that way, and the Indians are actually dressed like Plains Indians, not like a tribe from New England. It makes about as much sense as if the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware featured everyone dressed as cowboys. Yes, there is criticism, but for many it seems that it doesn't go beyond sharing a few humorous memes on Facebook.
As a language teacher, I have to ask myself why is it so few people are interested in learning any of the native languages of this country. I imagine many people would respond with how they simply wouldn't get any use out of it. After all, don't most Indians speak English? I've already addressed this issue of language utility in a previous post, and I simply don't buy it. Irish is a popular language for many Americans to learn, and pretty much everyone in Ireland speaks English. I believe that prestige, which has to do with our attitudes toward the speakers of the target language, is a major factor. If we have positive attitudes toward the original inhabitants of this country, it stands to reason that many of us would be interested in their languages and cultures as well. But I fear that we don't actually have a positive attitude toward native cultures, rather we incorrectly believe that we live in a postracist society where such things don't matter. I argue that such things very much do.
So for this Thanksgiving I gave myself the challenge to find five simple words in Massachusett (also called Wampanoag or Natick), the language that would have been spoken at the "first" Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving, potato, turkey, pumpkin, and corn. I am of course aware that none of these items would have been eaten at the "first" Thanksgiving, but I was hoping to use some of what I learned at my Thanksgiving dinner, and we will be serving turkey, not venison or eel.
I did some searching on the Internet to see what I could find. The first thing I found was that the Wampanoag language went extinct in the late 19th century. Let that sink in for a minute while you're preparing your meal today: The language spoken by the Indians at the "first" Thanksgiving died out over a century ago. If you're familiar with the sad history, then you know it wasn't because its speakers died of natural causes.
In 1993 it was revived and there are now roughly 400 people who can speak it as a second language. I found a little bit about the revival project at this website. I also found this dictionary that was written in 1903. I searched around and found that the word for turkey is néyhom and corn is weatchimín. Potato and pumpkin weren't in the dictionary. Thanksgiving is tabuttantamóonk, from tabuttantam, meaning to thank. Try saying that last one out loud and realize that you're speaking a dead man's tongue. It gives me chills.
What about Navajo or other American Indian languages?
I thought I'd try my luck with Navajo since it has the most native speakers of any American Indian language with about 200,000. It is also a language that every American should be grateful for thanks to its being used as a code during World War II. And sure enough, I was able to find a lot more materials to learn that language online. I liked this website quite a bit since it had different games and activities as well as audio clips of the words being pronounced. I couldn't find the names of any of the Thanksgiving foods, though it probably wouldn't have been appropriate since the Navajo are from the Southwest, not New England. Their languages are from two completely different language families (Algonquian in the case of Wompanaog, Athabaskan for Navajo). Trying to tie the Navajo into the "first" Thanksgiving story makes about as much sense as connecting Bulgarians to the signing of the Magna Carta.
One last place I went to look was the blog of the National Museum of the American Indian, which is part of the Smithsonian. Wouldn't you know that the first blog post on it was titled, "Do American Indians celebrate Thanksgiving?" It's written by a member of the Kiowa tribe, so he knows a lot more than I do since I'm just a guy who knows how to Google things. I highly recommend that you read it.
I recognize that my call for European Americans to learn an American Indian language is probably unrealistic, but I can't help but feel that an opportunity was missed when I was in school. When my family was stationed at an Air Force base in Turkey, someone came to our school once a week and taught us a little Turkish. Back here in the States, pretty much everyone learns a little bit of Spanish. Everyone knows uno, dos, tres, but why don't we know the same in any native language? I don't see why we can't all learn a little bit of Wampanoag, Navajo, Cherokee, or whatever the language of the tribe that used to or continues to populate whichever state you currently live in is, especially around days like Columbus Day or Thanksgiving.
Something I always find interesting is which languages get taught in schools in different countries. When I was in high school the options were Spanish, French, and German. This made sense to me. Spanish speaking countries were to our south, French-speaking Quebec was to our north, and English and German were related languages. During my senior year they started to offer Japanese. I know that Chinese has become popular as of late too. I reckon that these aren't for geographic purposes, but more because people believe they might be useful in a business setting.
When I moved to Hungary to teach at a high school, I assumed that besides English some of the languages spoken in neighboring countries (in this case German, Slovak, Ukrainian, Romanian, Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian) would possibly be taught in the schools. German was, and so was French. Finnish is fairly popular there as well, since Hungarian is related to it, but none of the geographically nearby languages were readily taught. I am aware that if you grew up in a town that had historically had a large Slovak population, like say Szarvas, where my great-great grandmother was from, then there are schools that teach Slovak, but if you were from a different town, then the opportunity simply wouldn't be there. I find this a little peculiar, since you would think that knowing the language of a neighboring country could be quite useful in social and business settings.
Of course, back in America I find it a little peculiar that German is still commonly taught, but Dutch isn't. After all, old New York was once New Amsterdam. Also, Dutch is much easier than German. But for whatever reason, there is simply not the demand for it. Where I live has a large Scandinavian background, yet Swedish and Danish aren't a part of any school curriculum that I'm aware of.
Learning Wampanoag for Thanksgiving
The popular image of the "first" Thanksgiving is full of inaccuracies.
With it being Thanksgiving time, I also can't help but reflect on the "first" Thanksgiving where the Pilgrims and American Indians from the Massachusett tribe shared a meal together. It's become popular as of late to be critical of portrayals of Europeans' and Indians' interactions from this time period. Take the picture above. The pilgrims didn't actually dress that way, and the Indians are actually dressed like Plains Indians, not like a tribe from New England. It makes about as much sense as if the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware featured everyone dressed as cowboys. Yes, there is criticism, but for many it seems that it doesn't go beyond sharing a few humorous memes on Facebook.
As a language teacher, I have to ask myself why is it so few people are interested in learning any of the native languages of this country. I imagine many people would respond with how they simply wouldn't get any use out of it. After all, don't most Indians speak English? I've already addressed this issue of language utility in a previous post, and I simply don't buy it. Irish is a popular language for many Americans to learn, and pretty much everyone in Ireland speaks English. I believe that prestige, which has to do with our attitudes toward the speakers of the target language, is a major factor. If we have positive attitudes toward the original inhabitants of this country, it stands to reason that many of us would be interested in their languages and cultures as well. But I fear that we don't actually have a positive attitude toward native cultures, rather we incorrectly believe that we live in a postracist society where such things don't matter. I argue that such things very much do.
So for this Thanksgiving I gave myself the challenge to find five simple words in Massachusett (also called Wampanoag or Natick), the language that would have been spoken at the "first" Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving, potato, turkey, pumpkin, and corn. I am of course aware that none of these items would have been eaten at the "first" Thanksgiving, but I was hoping to use some of what I learned at my Thanksgiving dinner, and we will be serving turkey, not venison or eel.
I did some searching on the Internet to see what I could find. The first thing I found was that the Wampanoag language went extinct in the late 19th century. Let that sink in for a minute while you're preparing your meal today: The language spoken by the Indians at the "first" Thanksgiving died out over a century ago. If you're familiar with the sad history, then you know it wasn't because its speakers died of natural causes.
In 1993 it was revived and there are now roughly 400 people who can speak it as a second language. I found a little bit about the revival project at this website. I also found this dictionary that was written in 1903. I searched around and found that the word for turkey is néyhom and corn is weatchimín. Potato and pumpkin weren't in the dictionary. Thanksgiving is tabuttantamóonk, from tabuttantam, meaning to thank. Try saying that last one out loud and realize that you're speaking a dead man's tongue. It gives me chills.
What about Navajo or other American Indian languages?
I thought I'd try my luck with Navajo since it has the most native speakers of any American Indian language with about 200,000. It is also a language that every American should be grateful for thanks to its being used as a code during World War II. And sure enough, I was able to find a lot more materials to learn that language online. I liked this website quite a bit since it had different games and activities as well as audio clips of the words being pronounced. I couldn't find the names of any of the Thanksgiving foods, though it probably wouldn't have been appropriate since the Navajo are from the Southwest, not New England. Their languages are from two completely different language families (Algonquian in the case of Wompanaog, Athabaskan for Navajo). Trying to tie the Navajo into the "first" Thanksgiving story makes about as much sense as connecting Bulgarians to the signing of the Magna Carta.
One last place I went to look was the blog of the National Museum of the American Indian, which is part of the Smithsonian. Wouldn't you know that the first blog post on it was titled, "Do American Indians celebrate Thanksgiving?" It's written by a member of the Kiowa tribe, so he knows a lot more than I do since I'm just a guy who knows how to Google things. I highly recommend that you read it.
I recognize that my call for European Americans to learn an American Indian language is probably unrealistic, but I can't help but feel that an opportunity was missed when I was in school. When my family was stationed at an Air Force base in Turkey, someone came to our school once a week and taught us a little Turkish. Back here in the States, pretty much everyone learns a little bit of Spanish. Everyone knows uno, dos, tres, but why don't we know the same in any native language? I don't see why we can't all learn a little bit of Wampanoag, Navajo, Cherokee, or whatever the language of the tribe that used to or continues to populate whichever state you currently live in is, especially around days like Columbus Day or Thanksgiving.
