EAST LANSING, Mich. — Anishinaabemowin was once the most widely spoken language in what is now Michigan. Today, census figures show there are fewer than 10,000 Anishinaabemowin speakers in the U.S. and fewer than 30,000 in Canada.
A weekly language class, hosted by the Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center in Okemos, is working to preserve the Anishinaabe culture by keeping the language alive.
Anishinaabemowin is an indigenous language spoken by the group of Great Lakes tribes, which includes the Ojibwe, Chippewa, Odawa and Potawatami.
"Our language, the way it's presented, at least the way I understand it, is that it's a way of life," said Aarin Dokum, board president at Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center.
Dokum leads the language classes every Wednesday night. He incorporated new lessons each week. Sometimes the lesson is on greetings or even weather.
"Having that language lost, it's important to try and put it back or get it back," he said. "The biggest thing that was taken from our people was our language. So there's only a few of us that actually understand it and speak it fluently."
Boarding schools where Native American children were sent to learn English, are partly to blame.
"Where I started out, we had teachers who didn't understand our language, they didn't know our language, and we didn't understand their language," said Alphonse Pitawanakwat, a board member at Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center.
Pitawanakwat is a fluent speaker and helps with language classes when needed. He believes it's important to keep the language alive.
"They say that that's how you remain strong if you will know your culture, and your culture is your language and your language is your culture," he said.
John Ostrander, another board member who attends the language classes, says the language was lost in his family.
"This is very important that we bring this back into our family again," Ostrander said. "I do this with my daughter and I mean I can say something. And it's nice because she catches it just like if we were speaking English."
John Paul Chalykoff is an instructor at Michigan State University who teaches Ashinaabewowin and intro to American Indian and indigenous studies. He views learning and speaking the language as a way of paying respect to his ancestors.
"I've been really inspired by the numbers of people that come to this community class," he said. "I've attended a number of community classes over the years, and you're lucky if you get five people consistently."
The Wednesday night classes are free and open to anyone who wants to learn. Due to COVID numbers, the language classes are being taught on Zoom.
