Blog Post ʔasíl
way̓ p isnqsilxʷ. incá iskʷist stk̓masq̓t
My language learning journey first started in 2005 when my wasa (maternal aunt) requested language information from Upper Nicola Band. Her mother, my maternal grandmother, spoke her language as a child but had not taught her children. We lived in Alberta and did not have any fluent speakers nearby who we could learn and speak with. My wasa received a booklet that had phonetic information for the nsyilxcn orthography as well as common terms in the language. It also contained a prayer in the language with translation. At this point in my learning I struggled with the new sounds and alphabet without any audio to know whether my pronunciation was close or not. But I made a commitment that I would learn what I could and kept the prayer close because one day I would be able to say it in my language.
In the coming years I got married and had my first children and caring for them took up much of my time. I often went looking for language information and help and started keeping files and bookmarking web pages that had any language or information about the language. In 2013 I found the First Voices and Interior Salish webpages and started learning with audio from fluent speakers. I found more content on YouTube and continually watched and listened to build a familiarity with the sounds of the language. I also used the Paul Creek Curriculum as a framework and searched for any words and phrases that were applicable to speaking to my children at home. Following people who were working in Language Revitalization throughout the Nation allowed me to keep up with projects and any classes happening. It helped me know that I was not alone in my language journey. I dreamed of one day speaking the language with other people in my community and my children.
Self study was slow going, but I kept at it. We chose to homeschool our children, in part so that they could get as much culture and language as possible. Still, I knew that for myself to really learn and for my children to become fluent I would need to be around other speakers, especially fluent speakers. Moving back home to the Okanagan where I was born had always been part of our long term plan. But my language journey created an urgency and sense of purpose. Finding out in early 2019 that there were learning opportunities for me was the final piece. We made plans to move in the fall so that I could put focused time into learning nsyilxcn.
We arrived back in home territory in October 2019 and within a few weeks my husband and I were taking evening classes. I started working in an immersion nest and continuing classes full time. Within a few months I realized that I was living what I had dreamed for myself and my family: speaking the language in my community and my children were being exposed to more language and learning as well. Now I have been given the opportunity for a new dream. To continue to build community and support other families who are dreaming of more language in their lives as I was.
