The native languages of British Columbia will soon disappear if no action is taken, a report warned last week.
Research carried out by the First Nations' Heritage, Language and Culture Council revealed that indigenous languages faced "imminent extinction."
The Canadian province of BC is home to 32 native languages and 59 dialects, all under threat as native speakers age and die off. The recent survey, titled Report on the Status of BC First Nations Languages 2010, found that only 5.1 percent of BC's First Nations population spoke native languages fluently. Most of those were over the age of 65.
A further 8.2 percent were "semi-fluent," but standards varied widely.
"All provinces are in the same boat, but in BC, the situation is worse because we have so many languages," Lorna Williams of the University of Victoria told The Globe and Mail.
The academic, who occupies the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge and Learning at the institute, said the way to rescue the dying languages was to link young learners with old.
"That's why school-only programs don't work," she said. "Because they don't reconnect the generations."
The findings of the report were not all negative, however. It found that many semi-fluent speakers and new learners were under the age of 25, indicating that some communities were taking steps to revitalize native languages.
Recommendations of the report include recording and documenting all First Nations languages in BC, and supporting language immersion programs for children.
02 May 2010
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