Forget Ice Water, Take the Indigenous Language Challenge Instead · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Screenshots of some of the participant videos from the Indigenous Language Challenge
Love it or hate it, the online buzz surrounding the Ice Bucket Challenge earlier this year brought more awareness to the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Participants filmed themselves dumping cold water on their heads and challenging another person to do the same or donate money toward research for a cure.
Now a similar concept aimed at awareness for indigenous languages is making its way around the internet. In the Indigenous Language Challenge, the one who accepts the challenge must record a video speaking an indigenous language and tap someone else to do the same. The outcome has been a wide range of people around the world who are producing videos, some for the first time, as a way to proudly share their language online and encouraging more to do the same.
A Facebook group was created to collect links to the videos, where people could share their motivations and connect with others taking part in the Challenge. Many chose to upload their videos directly to Facebook where one can hear North American languages like Kwak'wala and Lakota, as well as the Miriwoong language from Australia, for example.
Efforts to pinpoint the origin of this challenge are ongoing, but according to the group administrator, one of the first participants was James Gensaw, speaking words in the Yurok language.
Who are some of the participants? And why is this activity so important? Colleen Fitzgerald, Director of the Native American Languages Lab at The University of Texas at Arlington, shares her thoughts on her blog post at the Huffington Post:
Many of these videos come from adults who are second language learners. For many years, government-run boarding schools in both the U.S. and Canada took children from Native families. This had an immense effect on Native language acquisition. Children lost priceless years of daily home environments with parents and grandparents communicating to them in their language. Home is where children's language development thrives and grows, and where children acquire the many different speech forms that express the human experience. What gets lost? So much, from the everyday language of instructions, telling jokes, or a recipe, to the ritual language of prayers, ceremonial speeches, or sharing stories of the ancestors.
Here are two examples of participants in this Challenge, who uploaded their videos to YouTube. Jackelyn Seitcher speaking in the Nuu-chah-nulth language shares words after accepting the challenge.
Monica Peters takes the opportunity for the challenge to show the translations of works in Kanienkeha. She then goes onto challenge members of the “Keeping the Kanienkeha Language Strong” Facebook group, community leaders and teachers, and students that are just starting out to speak the language.
There are other videos collected on the blog News From Native California.
Konwennenhon Marion Delaronde also posted her video in the group speaking Kanien'keha (Mohawk). After being challenged by Kehte Deer, she enthusiastically took part and shared her reflections after uploading her video:
Already I think I heard all the languages from different nations. I have to tell you all that all your languages are so beautiful. Always speak your own languages if you can. It’s hopeful. I want to encourage all of you to continue to learn, continue to teach other and to really put your life into it, speaking. I’m so happy that I can speak Mohawk. I’m not fluent, a lot is still missing, but I want to thank everyone who has recorded themselves for this challenge, because you inspired me.