The language of the people is slowly fizzling out. Not many people in the younger generations are fluent in the language. It’s not a language that was mandatory to be taught in schools. Can you believe that? The separate languages of the native people were the first languages on this land and it was stripped from them. Instead of the settlers learning the language of the people already here, The people were forced to learn a language and give up theirs or face consequences for speaking it. Now in present times it has caused our younger generation of people to only know very little, if any, of the language their ancestors spoke and only knew.
What does a member of the younger generations think? I got a chance to talk to Ryan Jackson, a young adult who thinks highly of the Lakota Language. Ryan was working towards a major in Lakota Studies and has been studying the Language since he was in ninth grade. He grew up hearing bits of the language spoken in every day life but decided it was important he fully learned the language in ninth grade. He realized how little there was of fluent speakers and wanted to be the start towards a change. Now in adulthood he places himself as a conversational speaker. Though he is not fully fluent he can hold a simple conversation about anything and is still working towards being fluent. He has already started teaching his kids the language as well and hopes to further their knowledge of it.
Can the language be saved? It’s important that we come together to preserve the language. I think if the younger generation become more serious and interested in learning it, that it can be saved. We need the language to live on, the language of our people is like the core of our culture. At events like powwows, sweats, and prayers at funerals, ceremonies of achievements and anything involving our people the language is spoken and it’s always by an elder. Lakota Language alone has about 6,000 fluent speakers and the average age of them is about 70 years old. There are dictionaries, websites and even some apps that can help you learn but it doesn’t compare to being able to speak to a fluent speaker. We need to use that resource as much as we can while we can.