its so frustrating bc on that post abt our signs going up, i wish i had mentioned the name of our tribe and language in the post bc of all the notes/comments wanting to know who we are and its like... 16k people could have suddenly been aware of us.. im so dumb i didnt think it would blow up like that at all, i think i tagged it baxoje and ioway but no one looks at op tags
i get so sensitive abt our language too bc ive tried an tried to encourage the fb group (which, ha, is the only actual place where my tribe actually talks to each other bc everyone moved away and out of the res, so i can never leave fb) to actually put more effort in preserving it since its technically extinct now (last fluent speaker died in the 90s).... like other nations have had a lot of success making apps and stuff and some of the source code is free use but STILL i get a lot of the elders being negative, “i’ve been trying to learn this language since i was your age- theres no one to talk to in it, no one speaks it, its difficult, you think an app is gonna help save it?” etc. the signage project was like as far as ppl will take it, more like a relic to whats lost than really trying to teach Otoe-Ioway to new generations.
the only idea i have left im holding on to is to get enough funding to make a sort of duolingo-type teaching tool for our particular dialect of Chiwere... but its always a race against time and against all the bitter rejection from elders bc they think nothing else can be done?? and the guy who has spent his whole life compiling words and making our dictionary references is getting SO OLD, i think he’s the only person left even close to being fluent who could be recorded speaking Otoe-Ioway in an interactive program like duolingo. the funding would basically be paying this guy +programmers to sit down and record himself in his old age and set up the program. hhhhhhnnnghhh but fuck!! then it could be just like THERE for people to learn! its like the last resort resource we have and could literally save our language from death?......
i just always feel weird bringing it up, even if im nearly 30 the elders just kinda scoff at me like im a child trying to do something about it when in their minds, nothing can be done and you might as well accept that our culture is lost. its so depressing lol its so fucking depressing and i get why my dad ran away from his leadership role but i also feel like i have to TRY like i cant just give up on this