"How a person is known that will be a good Nishnaabe speaker." From the vaults of the year 2023, hosts Miigwanaabiikwe and Mskwaankwad talk about signs of a successful language learner. Stay tuned for more recent episodes coming soon. Kii-mesnigoom! We have missed you all!

We're back and we have some catching up to do! This time we are diving in to the mailbag to answer your listener letters. Today's episode title, Maajiibiignan ("maw jee beeg nun") means "letters." You can always send us an email to have your letter read aloud on the show, especially if you have a funny or embarrassing language learning story. 

Pretendians. Race shifting. We hear about these stories in the news where individuals with tenuous or untrue claims to Indigeneity have taken positions of power or prestige reserved for Indigenous people. Now we see this same issue happening in the language reclamation field. Today we sit down with Dr. Celeste Pedri-Spade to discuss the article her and colleague Dr. Sarah Shulist co-authored on this very topic, entitled "Lingua Nulls: Indigenous Language Learning and Revitalization as Sites for Settler-Colonial Violence." Our episode title, "Enishnaabewikaazjig" means "Those who pretend to be Anishinaabe." To read the aforementioned article, email us with the subject line Celeste, or click on the following link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OIWdQd-jzf-0q3bqoue8BITtw9vewK27/view?usp=sharing 

Ezhi-giizhweying ("eh-zhi geezh weh ying"), or how we speak, is one way we have decided to translate dialect. Although Anishinaabemowin is understood amongst different speakers across the territory, we do still have different dialects and ways of speaking our language. At the end of the day, speaking any dialect is better than none at all. To listen to Aakoziiwigamig: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/indigenous/indigenous-languages/aakoziiwigamig.html 

The episode where we talk about whatever, and share updates on where we've been and what we've been doing. Today's episode title, "Nbwaachwedaa" (pronounced "Bwotch wey daw") means "let's visit." We've missed you all! 

We discuss everything and anything language with Alan Corbiere (Ojiig) from M'Chigeeng First Nation. We hope you enjoy and learn as much as we did recording this podcast. 

"When we speak the language to each other at home" is the translation of today's episode. Host Mskwaankwad interviews Jess about her family's efforts to raise their 3 year old son in the language at home. Stay tuned for a special guest on the last 10 seconds!

Aan'kinootmaageng ("Awn ki note maw gang") is one way to say "translating" in the language. It's not as easy as it sounds, and there is no, one way to do so. Today we talk about the pitfalls of translating and how we work with and around them. 

Mskwaankwad talks us through his journey in the field of linguistics, including  its usefulness to Indigenous language revitalization, its pitfalls, and everything else in between.  Today's episode, "En'kamgak gchi-kinoomaage-gamgoong (En-kum-guck chi ki-no-maw-geh gum-gohng)" translates to "What happens in the big school (university)."

Greetings from immersion. We check in half way through the two week immersion program called Eshki-Nishnaabemjig and share our tired but grateful reflections.