Three Things Indigenous Languages in Canada Taught Me
How my internship experience at wintranslation got me back to the basics and beauty of languages
Language has always been my passion. I studied English Literature for my undergraduate degree and Translation for my master’s degree in my home city. I landed a government job afterward and worked as a Chinese and English translator for a decade.
However, I felt like a translation machine over time that needed no feelings or inspiration when working with languages. I wrote, translated, and sold my skills for money. I had drifted away from my original enthusiasm day by day. Thanks to job stability, AI could not replace my role, but I felt increasingly disconnected from my passion for language.
But life has not forgotten me as a language learner. Its twists and turns led me to venture out of my comfort zone, study Professional Writing for my college diploma in Canada, and do an internship with wintranslation where I have expanded my knowledge of Indigenous languages in Canada. After a six-week internship, there are three things Indigenous languages have shown me.
1. Language is identity
We carry our first language like an invisible name tag. It not only reveals things as obvious as our ethnicity. It can be as precise as revealing which regional communities we are from.
The Cree, an Indigenous group living across a vast area stretching from Alberta to Quebec, speak a continuum of regional dialects developed from their mother language of Proto-Algonquian. The original “r” sound in Proto-Algonquian has evolved into different sounds in various Cree dialects. For example, “r” has changed to “l” in Moose Cree (the “l” dialect), “y” in Plains Cree (the “y” dialect), and “th” in Woods Cree (the “th” dialect).
Therefore, we can tell which community a Cree person belongs to by listening to the sound nuances in their dialects.
This interesting fact about the Cree dialect continuum reminded me that, as a Cantonese, I can also make a good guess about which region in the Guangdong Province of China another Cantonese is from simply by listening to their accent.
Being a strong indicator of one’s identity, language is unarguably a powerful trademark on us. Recently, I was surprised to learn that Christian Bale, the star in American Psycho, who sounded perfectly American to me, is in fact a British English actor.
2. Language is culture
Language shows our origins; it also tells us apart by putting us in different cultural groups. The philosophies, histories, and wisdom unique to a particular group of people crystallize in their identities and blossom in their languages. These cultural petals create a distinct fragrance and colour in their flowers dancing in the wind on the meadow.
It is an immense and colourful flower field—there are more than 7,000 languages around the world. In this sense, Canada is indeed a beautiful and culturally diverse country, where around 70 Indigenous languages in 12 language families are currently spoken. All of them are windows offering us a view of Indigenous cultures.
The fact that most Indigenous languages in Canada were traditionally oral for so long gave me a good picture of how fundamental oral culture is to Indigenous peoples. All history, myths, knowledge, social and cultural values, worldviews, and many others were passed down from ancestors to younger generations through songs and storytelling during traditional ceremonies and gatherings.
Sometimes, a language can also be a combination of two cultures. Michif, a blend of Cree and Métis French, exemplifies a cultural fusion. It has characteristics from both languages—its words are marked for masculine–feminine gender like in French, and for inanimate–animate gender like in Plains Cree.
3. Language is organic
Languages live among us. They keep changing with their speakers who find themselves in different surroundings and times facing specific challenges and situations over the course of history.
Indigenous people have a deep connection with and respect for nature; therefore, their languages are naturally rich in describing their environment. For many Indigenous peoples in the North, ice is an integral part of their living as it connects their communities and allows them to traverse and hunt for food as well as daily necessities. Surrounded by an icy landscape, Labrador Inuit have more than four dozen words for sea ice in their language.
So, when sea ice in the Arctic becomes thinner due to climate change, the Inuit lifestyle, culture, and tradition are expected to be changed, and so is their language. Weaker sea ice reduces the time Inuit spend with each other. It means less chance to communicate in their local language. It also changes the way they hunt as fewer marine animals are available. The language used for passing down their hunting knowledge will then be different.
Languages, like those delicate flowers in the meadow, are very susceptible to changes and in need of care. They too have an arc of life in which they come into existence, grow, thrive, decline, and die. Due to a number of reasons including the decreasing numbers of native speakers and colonial policies in the past, the outlook for Indigenous languages in Canada is bleak. According to UNESCO, 75% of them are endangered. Some are struggling to survive with a small number of native-speaking elders.
To protect these languages from extinction and safeguard the cultures embedded in them, efforts like creating “talking” dictionaries and language learning apps are much needed.
On this less trodden path to reach my language learning goals, I was blessed to have this enlightening experience inspired by Indigenous language keepers, their perseverance, and inclusivity in Canada. Language has a new face and meaning to me now. With renewed faith in the beauty of language and diversity I found at wintranslation, I travel on to search for opportunities as a writer.
Be the next one to work, learn, and grow at wintranslation, a Canadian language service provider trusted for over 25 years. Come explore the internship opportunities. Immerse yourself in a diverse language environment and workplace while getting ready for your own language rediscovery journey to gain valuable experience and insights.
By Iris Tsui