Why you should learn your language…….or as one person asked me recently, why should I learn my language? I informed him that the Potawatomi People have a Potawatomi language given to them by their Creator…when folks ask him what and who he is, how does he answer them when they ask him about his Potawatomi heritage? How does he answer if they should ask why he doesn’t use his heritage language? What does he say to folks when they ask why he doesn’t seek to learn his heritage language? How does he justify not using his heritage language telling people who he is? Why doesn’t he use his heritage language in prayer? What does he say to people when they find out he is Potawatomi and does not know his own mother tongue? For that matter, what language does he think those spirits speak, English or Potawatomi? What language does he think his concept of God speaks, you know the One who gave him life and also gave his people their heritage language?
A more interesting question for some of you……what language do you pray in? Are you Potawatomi like me? Do you speak Potawatomi? Are you aware there are language classes being conducted every week, four evenings a week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening from 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM? Do you do everything in your power to make it to at least one of those classes? Two would be better, three would be even better yet, but all four would be best! Monday and Wednesday evening classes are freebies, but Tuesday and Thursday cost you something, a small donation of $40 per month, which you don’t have to pay monthly since there are others who share that cost with you. You might end up paying that donation once a year in that case, but rarely more than once. Still, that is cheap when you consider the quality teaching you get for that mere pittance, when you compare the cost of concert tickets, movie tickets, or even DVD’s once or twice a month for some of you.
In addition, the Thursday evening class is on Neshnabé Spirituality with a good part of the lesson taught in Potawatomi with translations. If you are attempting to practice your tradition, or someone else’s (this is usually the Lakota or Cherokee, for some), why not learn your own language and cultural teachings in your heritage language and speak to your God in Potawatomi, not English or some other language which is just as foreign to you as English? Lets face it folks! If you are Potawatomi, your God does not speak English to you, nor do the spirits who assist Him for you, yes that is right, they all speak Potawatomi to the Potawatomi people!
God may have created all languages but if He took the time to create something very specific like you and me, the bear, the wolf, the deer, and other creatures, then he expects us to follow our original instructions, so start speaking Potawatomi… If you don’t know your heritage language, then begin to learn it and speak it when you pray and sing in your worship. Come to think of it, what language do you sing your songs in? I hope it is in Potawatomi if that is the language you speak or are learning…..better yet, start thinking in Potawatomi too as it shall help you learn in the thought process.
It takes a lot of effort to learn your mother tongue, but it can be done if you take pride in who you are as a Potawatomi person. I do! I want to say I am Potawatomi and pray in my heritage language, think in that language and even sing in it. I want to do everything in my mother tongue and when I pass from this world into the next, I want them to welcome me into that world using my Neshnabé name and in Potawatomi. Don’t you?
What will you do when you meet your ancestors in the next life, and you can’t understand what they are saying to you? You don’t really think this life and this world is all there is, do you?
Do something about it now and learn your own language and cultural ways.
We have the means and the classes…..check out our web site at www.neaseno.org for online classes and cultural teachings on the Neshnabé Way of Life.
Some interesting and provoking thoughts from Neaseno……
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