Language, Spoken And Written

Author's Note: This story was an earlier story that was written in 2022, first published on medium.com and was not read by more than a few people. I decided to make it current and republish.

My Story: I am an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation in Minnesota. My enrollment is removal Fond du Lac, which means I have lots of relatives in both places.

People have told me that my storytelling is 'interesting', and sometimes I interpret that as a good thing, and most other times, not so much!

When working as a Culture Consultant. Because my people started with an oral tradition, storytelling was important and continued to be when I was growing up. I heard many stories. Most with lessons. I tell those stories.

Prior to retirement, when first hired at a state job, in policy and administration, a woman would interpret for me. I was speaking English, not Ojibwe. I recognized what she said as being exactly what I said, but said a bit differently.

There is such a thing as bureaucracy speak. Either people got used to how I spoke, or I got used to how they spoke, or they didn’t care what I said. Not sure which, but the interpretation stopped soon after I started to work there.

When telling stories from the culture, there isn’t usually a beginning, middle, and end as we are taught in English classes. Many times the story ends before the end, and it is left up to you to figure out how the story applies; what you think it means, the moral, punchline, or lesson.

And the beginning doesn’t start by telling you what the story is about.

Some stories can only be told when there is snow on the ground. And some believe it must be dark outside. And this is confusing to many when being asked to tell a story that is only told at certain times.

Then I am from Minnesota, and people from other states are always asking about my accent. I don’t hear an accent on me, but I do on Southerners and Easterners. And I find it difficult to understand people speaking English from Great Britain and other English-speaking countries!

My brother has lived in Texas most of his adult life, and he does not sound like he grew up in Minnesota, but people from Texas will ask him about his accent.

Then there is my age, I told my teen granddaughter that she sounds like a broken record. She responded with, “What’s a broken record Grandma?” She is 30 now, so there are record albums again, brought back and made popular by someone.

Or I say ‘that’s cool’ or ‘far out’ and I get some laughs and questions like, “Were you a hippie grandma?” or “Were you a beatnik?” I was not.

I’m not good with language, any language. Not English, Ojibwe, or any other language. I can count in German and Spanish, to about twenty, well maybe just ten! I can count in Ojibwe a bit more and know sentences and words in those languages.

I know more words and sentences in the Ojibwe language than all others.

Also, being socialized in the Native American culture with the Ojibwe language spoken in my home, but not shared, has helped with the confusion.

I have an Ojibwe name, clan name, and name for White Earth for an introduction. I can understand more than I can speak of the Ojibwe language. I am not fluent, nor will I become fluent before death.

Some of my favorites that I have laughed at again and again:

We live on the Iron Range in Minnesota, and you must have been born on the range to be a ranger. My husband was born here, so he is a ranger. He lived much of his life on the Leech Lake reservation and in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

I learned to write with a beginning, middle, and end much of the time! Not all of the time! So, it is funny when someone corrects me. Here I am very close to a doctorate, and I still can’t do that all of the time! And I have been accused of murdering the English language!

Grandkids’ sayings are almost always cute and funny, and sometimes it is a scratch of the head! My grandson had a special friend and called him Bitch. His mother worked on him and worked on him until his name became Butch.

My 2-year-old granddaughter called her toy fox, fucks. Again, her parents worked on that, and since she is in a Spanish immersion, they weren’t exactly sure that she wasn’t saying something in Spanish! They aren’t fluent in Spanish.

Author's note: Just a little bit too much to think about today!